


He Was First

by snifflyfists314



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-12-09
Packaged: 2018-02-18 03:03:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 22,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2332895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snifflyfists314/pseuds/snifflyfists314
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Don’t you get it? Once a month, one kid arrives. That means someone was here first. Someone had to spend one whole month here, all alone. And that was Alby.” Possible spoilers alert!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

He began his new life sprawled on what felt like metal. He was jolted awake by the harsh grindings of pulleys. His eyes sprang open, immediately taking in his surroundings. Barrels, all with the same initials imprinted on them. WICKED. He tried to stand up but fell right back down. He was moving upwards in a cramped metal box. 

“Help! Help! I’m trapped! It’s me…” He stopped. He wanted to say his name, but the only problem was, he didn’t know what it was. “What’s my name?” He asked himself over and over again, breaking down. Before he realised it, the metal box had stopped moving. He glanced up, and noticed a small light above him. If only he could get there, it could be outside, it could be the Sun. Where there’s sun, there’s freedom, right? He pushed and pulled, desperate to escape from this prison he was in.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he managed to swing the horizontal doors open. He crawled out of the box, hands bruised and bleeding from the metal doors. He had expected to see a bunch of people, someone who could explain why he was in the box, who he was. All he saw was a big empty space, the size of several football fields. Other than the metal box he had come up in, there were only trees, lots of grass, some animals and walls. Four huge walls that had to be at least 150 feet tall, surrounding him, surrounding everything. At the mid section of each wall, there was an opening. Through each opening, all he saw was stone. As far as he could see, it was all stone.

What is this place? Where is everyone? Is there anyone else? He was bursting with questions, he needed to ask someone something, needed to talk to someone. But there was no one. He was all alone in this place. For the second time that day, he broke down. He didn’t know what to do. All he knew were the tears he weeped.

***  
As the sun set, he realised he needed to find some shelter, some food, some water. This was his human instinct talking to him. He looked around, this time, there wasn’t fear in his heart, it was determination. He may not have known where he was, but he knew he had to survive. His gut was telling him so, telling him that he could not just let himself die. He was about to run over to a tree when he realised there was something on his arm. A note.

Look in the barrels.

Although he feared what would happen if he went back inside the box, he knew that if whoever put him here would give him a note, it couldn’t be bad. He jumped back in, landing back on the hard shaky metal. He found a crowbar on the ground and used it to pry the barrels open.

Food. Cloth. Water. All the barrels were full of these things. It was clear to him now that whoever had put him here had wanted him to survive. He was not being given a death sentence. He was being given a chance to survive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey readers! Thanks for reading this far :) Just some info, I'll be updating this every Thurs/Fri and Sun/Mon. Yup, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 2

Just as he was finishing unloading everything that was put in the barrels, he heard a loud grinding sound. He looked out from the Box -that was what he had decided to call it- and realised that something was moving by the walls. He ran over but stopped mid-way when he saw what was approaching him. Legs of a spider, tail of a scorpion, and a large mouth covering where a face would be. It was getting closer, fast. 

As he was about to run in the other direction, he realised the openings in the walls were getting smaller. Then it hit him, these weren’t just openings, they were doors. Doors to protect him from whatever that thing was. The thing that was getting closer by the second. He took a few steps back and willed the doors to close faster. Just as the thing was about to leap forward, the doors slammed shut, locking the creature out of what he supposed was his safe haven. His Glade. And that was the moment he swore he would never get out of it. Ever.

Relieved that all the doors had closed, he walked back over to The Box. Wait, where did he even learn that word? ‘Glade’? Was it a word from his past? He wished he could remember where he had learned it, but the only thing he could relate it to was a house, a home. Maybe this place was his home now. What are you doing? He thought. You wake up in a strange place and start naming it. However, he felt that it was a good name, and decided to keep it. 

As he was about to jump back into the Box to unload the rest of the supplies, he realised that the Box was gone. Where it was only minutes before, was a big black empty space. At least he had the brains to unload everything before investigating the moving doors. He closed the metal doors so that he would not accidentally walk off the edge and tumble to a possible doom. Although he really wanted to know where The Box had come from, he did not want to risk his own life in the process.

Looking around, he felt a sense of pride. He had climbed out of The Box, unloaded supplies, and discovered the purpose of the looming walls, all by himself. He thought that he would have needed someone, but no, he could take care of himself. He brought the supplies over to some trees and decided that was where he would rest for the night. There was sufficient shade, but it was lacking shelter from the rain. Telling himself he would work on that soon, he tied a big piece of cloth among two trees and slept.

***  
“Ungh...No…Alby!”  
Just as he opened his eyes, waking from a nightmare, he accidentally rolled out of his hammock and onto the ground. Realising what he had uttered just before waking, he repeated it over and over.

“Alby...Alby...Alby! My name! It’s Alby!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: What do you think? I would be really grateful if you leave a kudos and/or comment/suggestion/general review below! Thanks so much :)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Loneliness can really get to you sometimes. Anytime you feel the need to talk to someone, but realise no one is there, it hurts. Alby felt this pain. He had been feeling it for at least 2 weeks, ever since he had remembered his name. Even when he had remembered it, it had felt wrong. Like the name wasn’t his to keep. He had wanted to talk to someone, to tell someone what he was feeling, but there was no one to listen. There was only the nature: the sky, the trees, the pigs, the grass. It all surrounded him.

At that time, Alby had successfully built a shelter over his sleeping area and had decided on how to spread out the supplies he received. He had to organise the food such that it could last him an entire week, before the new set of supplies arrived. If the supplies did not arrive every week, Alby would have been dead long before. He felt content, happy even. The only thing he was lacking was a companion, someone to take the silence of The Glade away.

***  
By the fourth week, Alby felt he was on the verge of madness. He felt that if the loneliness continued on, he would start talking to the pigs, maybe even the trees. Just then, he heard a grinding sound. It wasn’t the sound of the doors, they couldn’t be closing yet, it was the middle of the day. He realised it wasn’t the sound of stone on stone. It was the sound of metal, the sound of pulleys, the sound of...The Box.

Alby sprinted over to The Box. It was moving up the long shaft, exactly the same way it had moved when he had arrived. Why was it here? The fresh supplies had only arrived yesterday. Could it be? Had his prayers finally been answered? As The Box came to a stop, Alby saw exactly what he hoped he would see. It was another person.

The Box stopped moving completely and Alby opened the metal doors, careful not to agitate the person inside. Reassuringly, he said, “Calm down, it’s alright, you’re safe here. You probably don’t remember anything, but your name will come-”

“Gally. My name, it’s Gally. Where am I? Who are you?” He asked. Even from outside The Box, Alby could tell Gally was really tall and very strong. If he wasn’t careful, Alby could possibly be maimed by his new companion. Cautiously moving forward, Alby held out his hand, “I’m the only one here, my name is Alby. I call this place the Glade. It’s not much, but let me show you around.” As Gally stepped out of The Box, Alby couldn't help but notice the sheer size of Gally. He was at least a head taller than Alby, his short blonde hair was combed back very neatly, despite the rocky trip in The Box, and his looming figure was almost as intimidating as the walls that surrounded The Glade. 

For the rest of the day, Alby explained how his life had worked for the past month. How the supplies arrived every week, how the doors opened and closed every day, what the walls were protecting him from, how he had been all by himself… Finally, he got down to the question he really wanted an answer to, “Do you remember anything other than your name? Anything at all?” Gally answered firmly, “Don’t remember nothing, just my name. Wait, you said you waited a whole month for me to come? Do you think that someone else is gonna come up next month?” Alby sighed, all he had done since he had arrived was hope, and all he could continue to do, was hope.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Would just like to put something out there... As some of you may know, James Dashner is writing a requel called The Fever Code, which is about the creation of the maze and the first few days of the Glade. And I'm really hoping that my fanfiction is in someway close to the second part of his storyline :) Yup just wanted to say that. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 4

The next day, when Alby woke up, he noticed there was something different about his sleeping area. The sun wasn't blinding him, he wasn't covered in fallen leaves, there were wooden boards covering all the trees around him. He rolled out of the hammock and took a few steps back, it seems that Gally had built a shelter over the sleeping area.

"Like it? I'm thinking of calling this place the Homestead. Since we might just be stuck in this Glade of yours for a long time, we might as well make it as cozy as possible eh?" Gally remarked. He jumped off of the wooden boards, proud of what he had done. Alby had to ask, "You stayed up all night to do this?" Gally nodded, he was pleased with what he had accomplished overnight. Alby looked around Gally, he was surrounded by wood, lots of it, of all different forms, torches, boards and many chipped off pieces. It was evident that Gally had not only built the shelter, he had also chopped down one of the trees in the forest. This guy is good, Alby thought.

Gally was just about to have some shut eye when Alby ran up to him and asked, "Hey Gally, how about you be a Builder? I mean, if more people are coming here, we might as well have someone to build more cool things like this. And it seems you're pretty quick with your hands. So how bout it?" Gally smiled and gave an affirmative nod before leaning back onto his hammock.

***

The entire time Gally had spent resting, Alby had spend planning. If there were going to be more people coming, they would have to have something to do. Assuming the same amount of supplies came up every week, it definitely would not be enough for more people. He even doubted the possibility of it being able to support Gally and him, considering his size.

That night, Gally and Alby started a small campfire and Alby explained to Gally the ideas he had come up with earlier. "It's just the basic necessities. I'm thinking we could divide The Glade into 4 parts. Over there are the Gardens, where we can plant crops. I also discovered that water is being pumped there, and there already some fruits growing, so it would be perfect. To the right could be where we raise and slaughter the pigs, because let's face it, we're going to need some meat. Where the forest is, it'll just be forested area for us to get some wood for now." As Alby explained, he gestured to each corner of The Glade. Gally was liking the idea of organising The Glade, in fact, he might think of making Alby the leader. Keeping that in mind, he continued listening intently to Alby's ideas.

"As I was saying, we're going to need things to do right? We can't just sit around on our a**es all day and twiddle thumbs. Since you built the Homestead, you could be the leader of the Builders. As more people come up, we're going to need a cook or two, some gardeners, possibly some med-jacks, because let's face it, none of us are actually qualified and finally, some slicers to take care of the meat in our diet. How's that?" Alby was quite satisfied with everything he had thought of in just one day.

However, Gally felt he had to bring up one very important point, "Alby, this is great and all, but remember that this is assuming more kids come up every month. If we're the only ones…" Alby cut him off, "Gally, trust me, I've been here a whole month, and whoever put us here obviously wanted us to survive. Otherwise, they wouldn't have given us supplies or any of this, why put us here if we're meant to die? I have a feeling everything will get better, trust me."

A/N: Sorry if you feel the last few chapters have been too short. Don't worry, the next few chapters will be longer, more things are going to happen soon! :) Thanks for reading! I would be really grateful if you leave a kudos and/or a comment/suggestion/general review down below! :)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

For the next few weeks, Gally and Alby worked on making plans for more buildings. Gally made plans on how he would build a slaughter house when he had more helping hands. Alby walked around The Glade, estimating how many people the place could possibly support. Although everything was riding on the fact that more people were coming, it was the only thing they could do to kill time. Without more hands, it would take forever to build anything. The only other place they could go was outside the doors, but after Alby’s vivid description of the creatures, Gally wasn’t making any plans to go outside any time soon. How and why the creatures never entered The Glade was still a mystery to them. However, they weren’t about to jinx their luck by finding out. Finally, after 3 time-killing weeks, what they had been waiting for finally came.

As Alby heard the grinding of the metal, he called to Gally to help him open the metal doors. The new arrival came closer, and Alby realised that he was asleep. Or was he...dead? No, it couldn’t be. After one month, they couldn’t just get a dead man, no, they couldn’t. Alby was just about to jump into The Box when Gally stopped him, “I better go in, if he’s playing some kind of sick trick, I’ll make sure that’s the last thing he does.” Alby gave a quick nod and Gally jumped in, his weight making the entire Box shake. He picked up the new kid and shook him. As his face entered the light, Alby saw it. He looked Asian, and his hair was styled -or was it gelled?- up. He looked to be about the same age as him and Gally.

Gally shook the new kid vigorously, but there was no response. He placed him just outside the Box and climbed out. Alby was hoping with all his heart that he wasn’t dead, and listened closely for a heartbeat. After a long silence, he said, “He’s still alive, probably just passed out. We’ll leave him on a hammock, see what happens later.” As they lifted the new arrival up, he jolted to life and rolled off, scrambling to his feet and running. Gally remarked, “Looks like we got a runner.” They gave chase as Alby screamed, “Don’t go outside! Come back!” However, their efforts were futile and the guy had already escaped from The Glade. 

***  
Alby and Gally slowed to a stop, and between gasps for breath, Gally said, “We had him… and we lost him. Looks like it’s another month of waiting. Come on Alby, let’s go back.” He turned around and was about to walk to the Homestead when Alby spoke up, “Wait, is that? You don’t think he’s…” 

“He is.”  
“But how could he survive those-?”  
“Doesn’t matter. We got our guy back.”

The new guy made a mad dash back into The Glade. He must have thought Alby and Gally had given up hope on him, because a look of shock was plastered all over his face when they greeted him by the door. Gally sprinted forward and grabbed the kid, preventing him from doing anything. He restrained the kid and interrogated him, spit flying out as he said each word.

“Listen kid, that was crazy. You’ve got some nerve, now tell me what the heck you were doing before you get this shank stuck in you,” he took out a small hunting knife from his back pocket, “Trust me, this is one crazy shank, just like you. You crazy shank.” The guy chuckled in between chokes, which was surprising considering the fact that he was being strangled and threatened with a knife. 

“So I’m a shank huh? Hm…”  
Gally was having enough of his nerve, and nicked his chin, before repeating his question.  
“You better tell me something good right now, or-”  
“Alright, alright. Although I don’t suppose I can tell you anything. I literally remember nothing. I don’t even know my name, just put me down.”

Alby held up his hand, gesturing for Gally to stop torturing the poor guy. Gally gave a grunt, and let him go. Alby immediately grabbed the new guy and said, “Sorry about that. Don’t worry about your memory. Your name should come back to you sooner or later. Trust me, both of us went through it, and that’s all we remember. Anyway, this is where we live now, we’ve called it The Glade. I’m Alby, that’s Gally. Let us show you around.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! Please also check out our other story, 'Subject A5: Newt the Glue'. It's ALL about Newt! :)

Chapter 6

"Hey Gally, can I ask you a question?"

Minho had approached Gally one afternoon, about two weeks after remembering his name, as Gally was finishing up his lunch. He sat down next to him and took a deep breath before asking the question he knew would probably anger Gally.

"Yeah, sure shank, ask away."

Minho laughed at the way Gally had addressed him. Ever since he had arrived in The Glade, that's all Gally would call him. 'Hey shank get over here' or 'Shank, Alby needs some help'. Minho made a mental note to call the next new guy the exact same thing. Trying to look unaffected, he continued, "Look, I get that we're not allowed to go out of this place, but why?"

Gally scoffed at Minho's question, and even felt the need to scream at his face, but remembered the promise he made to Alby about attacking newbies, and attempted to sound as calm as possible.

"Newbie, hey, were you not paying attention when Alby gave you the tour? Maybe you forgot but there are monsters out there! You know, the ones he showed you through the glass in the doors. The ones which made the whirring and clicking sound that scared the crap out of Alby the first day he was here. I may not have seen them personally, but I'm not too eager to gain that knowledge. You should do the same. Come on, it's time for us to continue working on the slaughterhouse. Get your shank ass up, let's go."

Minho sighed, that wasn't exactly the kind of answer he was looking for. The past two weeks or so, Minho had been thinking of having one more go at going out of The Glade. That first day when he had arrived had not deterred him from escaping, rather, it had piqued his interest on what exactly was lying outside. He had run down a few corridors, and ran back when he chickened out. Ugh, I'm such a chicken. That's probably who I was before I forgot everything. He had run a few hundred metres, but hadn't seen a sign of any of the creatures Alby had mentioned. He had been planning for another expedition, and decided to bring that up to Alby, only it had to be when Gally wasn't around, unless he wanted to be insulted again.

As the doors were closing for the day, Minho took advantage of the time when Gally was doing his private business, and walked up to Alby.

"Hey Alby, I've been thinking, what if I went back out of The Glade one more time. I know, you said there's all the creatures out there. But that was at the end of the day, when the doors were closing, and you haven't actually taken a step out of this place yourself, have you? That day when I first arrived and I ran out, I didn't see any weird creatures, just lots of vines. I know it's safer here but-"

"You can go."

Minho shook his head, double-checking to see if he heard what he thought he had heard. He was surprised, he would have thought Alby would be stubborn and absolutely against the idea of him going back out. Completely stunned by Alby's response, all he could say was "Huh?"

"You heard what I said. You can go. I don't think I can just confine you and Gally here forever. Tomorrow morning, as soon as those doors open, you get out there and see whatever there is. There is a catch though, 5 minutes, no more, then you come sprinting right back here. If those creatures are out there, I don't want to lose you, Minho. Until we have more guys, we need as many people as we can get if we're going to survive. Got it?" Alby said, making sure Minho heard every single word clearly.

All of a sudden, Gally came storming over. He had been eavesdropping from behind. A deafening shout followed.

"WHAT? You gonna let this shank out of this place? Alby, is something coming loose up there? Let's do a head count, how many of us are there? Oh yeah, three! And if we lose this shank, how many do we have, hmm, I don't know, maybe two! We did not do a whole month of waiting just to lose the shank! All he's probably going to find out there is just corridors! Corridors leading to death!"

"Wait," Minho started, there was something he had forgot to mention, "I don't think it's just corridors. That day, when I ran out, what's outside isn't just big tall blocks of straight corridors."

"Well then what is it?" Gally interrupted.

Minho took a deep breath, saying, "I think it might be a maze."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
Alby’s eyes widened in disbelief. Gally was completely caught off guard. Minho was contemplating whether he should have said that. 

“What do you mean a maze?” Alby asked. He thought back to the first day he arrived. He was frightened, confused, alone. He had unloaded the supplies barrel by barrel, before hearing the doors closing. When he had gone to investigate the sound, never in a thousand years would he have thought that the place the creature came from was a maze. The thought of them being surrounded by a maze only frightened him more. How could he let Minho go out if it was a maze? The possibilities of how his mission could end were endless. He could get lost, he could get eaten by the creatures, there could be some mysterious supernatural force out there. If whoever put them there could surround them in a big stone maze, who knew what else they could do?

“Minho, are you sure you want to go out there?” Alby asked, concerned.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I? We’ve got to see what there is, it could be a way out.” Minho was more than determined on exploring, he was dead set on it.

“Or a pathway to death,” Gally added. Although he too was curious about what lay outside The Glade, he valued a safe life much more than one where death could be just around the corner. 

After a long discussion, Gally finally relented and agreed to let Minho go exploring the next day. However, Minho was to never stop running, just in case the creatures were waiting.

***  
The next day, as the sun rose and the sky turned a brilliant shade of orange, Minho, Alby and Gally stood by the doors, waiting for them to open. As the doors opened, Alby and Gally wished Minho the best of luck. Attempting to lighten the mood, Gally chortled, “If I don’t see you back here soon, just know that I love you.” Minho smiled, he was confident that he would return. Once the doors had opened up sufficient space for Minho, he dashed out, not looking back.

Left, right, another left, two rights, one more left. A feeling of exhilaration swept through Minho as he ran. For the first time since he had arrived, he felt free. Free to do whatever he wanted. No Alby to tell him to be careful. No Gally continuously bugging him, calling him ‘shank’. He could run as fast as he wanted, there were endless turns. Not only did he have to remember to breathe properly, he had to remember the way to go back. Both were equally as important. If he started to get a stitch, he would have to stop, and that would mean the creatures could come up and attack him. If he forgot which way to go, he would be lost, and the creatures would still attack him. That was all his brain was focusing on, breathe, turn, breathe, turn. 

Lucky for him, he didn’t have to remember all that much. After every few turns, he would cut off a piece of the vines with a knife Gally had made for him. He laughed to himself, remembering a story that he didn’t know was in his brain. Hansel and Gretel, he thought. How he could recall something like that from his old life was a mystery.

Minho glanced down at his watch. It had been about 5 minutes since he had left. However, he didn’t care how long he was out there. Yes, Alby had said to come back immediately after 5 minutes, but Minho just had to keep exploring. He couldn’t help it, there was just something about continuously running to keep away from death that appealed to him. In fact, there was an idea stemming in his brain. What if I did this everyday? This idea grew and he realised that if he were to do this daily, he would have to remember which way to go. Maybe I’ll map this place out.

5 minutes later, and Minho was back in The Glade. The familiar sight of the overgrown grass and the Homestead in the distance brought a smile to his face. Although it had been only 10 minutes he was gone, he was tired and it felt like it had been hours. Whatever it was, something about The Glade would always feel like his home, even though he couldn’t remember his real one. 

Minho did not know what he was expecting on his return, perhaps a warm greeting. However, he was greeted by a ‘warm’ slap on the face, by Gally.

“Shank! Is there something wrong with your ears? Alby said 5 minutes! If you had been killed, we would have dragged you back and I would have killed you again!” Gally screamed, right into Minho’s ear.

“Slim it Gally. Minho, what did you find?” Alby asked. Alby, Alby is understanding, Minho thought, I get back 5 minutes late and he’s able to calm down. That’s probably why he came up first. Minho remembered the idea he had while running, mapping the maze, and decided to keep that a secret from Alby and Gally. Gally already disliked the idea of him going out once, going out daily would take a lot of persuasion. Mapping the maze would drive him mad.

Trying his best to sound neutral, Minho shrugged and said, “Nothing much, it’s just a big stone maze. Vines everywhere. That’s about it. I don’t even know why I wanted to go out there.”

This made Gally smile. He knew that he was right from the very beginning and there was nothing much out there. Now, Minho would be willing to do his part and help with more of the construction. They still had to cover the entire Homestead with a shelter, so that even if more people didn’t come, it could become a recreation area for them. They were also making plans to build a kitchen-like place. Besides that, they also had to tend to crops. It was a lot to do for three people.

Minho noticed Gally’s satisfaction and knew that his plan of making him unsuspecting had worked. “Now if you’ll excuse me,” he pushed through between Alby and Gally, walking towards the Homestead, “I need to do something.” Alby, however, was not so easily fooled, after doing his ‘mission’, why would Minho just keep to himself? He thought Minho would be talking non-stop about what was out there. As he reached out a hand to stop Minho, Gally put his hand on Alby’s shoulder, shaking his head and saying, “Don’t worry Alby, he’s probably just gone off the cry to himself about how scared he was.” Alby nodded, but was not convinced


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
Reaching the Homestead, Minho put his things down and escaped from Alby and Gally’s gaze through the back. Trying to remain in the shadows of the walls, he ran into the small forested area in the South West corner of The Glade. He had thought about where he was going to map out the maze. Since he obviously couldn’t do it in the Homestead, he decided to hide it in a small room out in the forest. 

Minho walked over to where Gally had put his pre-chopped wood and took a few pieces. Then, he walked to the deepest part of the forest, where even Gally found it spooky. For the rest of the day, between looking over his shoulder for any signs of Gally or Alby, he tied the wood together. Sweat coated his entire body and by the end of the day, he was filthy from the dirt and was quite sure he had gotten several splinters. He took a few steps back, admiring the half of a hut he had built. And to think, I did this all by myself, he thought. Talking to himself, he said, “Good job, Minho, you’ve just built yourself half a map room.” As he turned around, he was greeted by a rather friendly face. It was Alby.

“Not bad, although you should probably tie those stakes tighter, unless you want your little hut to collapse,”Alby pointed out, gesturing to each of the places where the knots were not as tight as others. Minho stammered, “A..Alby, umm, this is just.” Alby chuckled, “I know what you’re doing. You want to map out the maze, don’t you? Don’t worry, I won’t tell Gally. But if he finds out, you’re on your own. And Minho, if you do want to continue running through the maze, you may. I’ll take care of Gally.”

Minho smiled in surprise, this was not the kind of reaction he was expecting. He nodded, and was about to hug Alby before regaining his composure, saying, “Thanks Alby, thanks so much. Maybe one of these days, I may find a way out of this place!” Alby smiled, knowing that by giving Minho some leash, they may just find a way out of the maze. Maybe someday. However, there was something that he had been wanting to ask Minho.

“Minho, you can go running, but on one condition. I want you to bring us, or more specifically, me, into the maze tomorrow. I may not be a fast runner, but I just want to know what it’s like out there, just so I know what you’re facing.” Minho gladly agreed to this condition and they headed back to the Homestead.

That night, as Minho was about to sleep, he overhead Gally and Alby arguing on the other side of the Homestead.

“No way, not you too Alby. You letting the shank go out for one day was enough. Now you’re letting him go out every day? And you’re following him tomorrow? Are you crazy?”  
“Gally calm down, it’s just one day, I’ll see what’s out there and see whether it is safe for him to go out. You’re overreacting.”  
“No, you should have known since that first day you saw the creature that we should never go out. And you have been thinking that for 3 months. That has kept you alive.”  
“I just think we should give this guy a chance. He says there might be a way out.”  
“And you believe him? Alby, this is crazy. I thought you were my friend, I thought you were on my side!”  
“There are no sides here Gally! We are in this to survive, not you against me, not us against him, it’s us against the people who put us here! And when we do find a way out, they’ll be damn sorry they messed with us! I’ve been here longer than you, I survived for one month by myself, I think I have the right to tell you guys what to do and what not to do! If you don’t like the way I’m running things here, then leave!”

Stunned by Alby’s sudden outburst, Gally put his hands up in surrender. Thinking back on what had just happened, he realised he really had been overreacting. Alby was here first, and that itself was enough reason for him to be appointed as leader. He had survived by himself, and Gally had to admit, staying cooped up in The Glade wasn’t the most fun thing to do. If the new shank had the courage to go outside by himself, what did that make Gally? If he didn’t even dare to go outside, what did that make him? A big baby? As he admitted defeat, he retreated to his hammock and slept. Even without seeing what had happened, Minho could tell that Alby had won that fight. He slept, knowing that the next day would be life threatening, but at the same time, the start of something new.

***  
“Look shank, if Alby doesn’t get back alive, and you leave me alone in this place, I will personally find your bodies and kill you all over again. Get me?”

Gally had been bothering Minho the second he had woken up and was starting to get on his nerves. He did not really want to run through the maze with a piercing headache. That’s why as soon as the doors opened, Minho ran through, afraid that if he hesitated for even a second, Gally would pull him right back. Watching Alby from the corner of his eye, they ran. Every single turn, he would cut off a new vine, trailing it behind until he had reached the end of one corridor. 

After what had felt like 15 minutes, Alby was already panting. He was obviously not meant to be a runner. All of a sudden, Minho tripped on a stray vine and fell, trying to hold his arms up to cushion his fall, but to no avail. “Oh f….shuck it!” An expletive had almost escaped his mouth, but had decided to use a milder version, unless he wanted a harsh scolding from Alby. Alby skidded to a stop and turned back. Minho’s left ankle was in an awkward position. He had attempted to move it, but every twitch sent shots of pain up his leg.

“Alby, my ankle. Argh, it’s shucking painful. Argh, you go on, just see what’s around the corner.” Minho said, between groans of pain.

Alby shook his head, saying, “I appreciate your use of a milder term. I’m not going on without you. Come on, we’ve gotta get you back to The Glade before the doors close. One...two...three!” 

He heaved Minho up, such that his left arm was swung over Alby’s shoulder. They hobbled back the way they had come, stopping only for a few seconds each time to rest. By the time they had caught sight of The Glade, Alby’s back was aching and Minho could barely feel his left arm anymore. Just as they were about ten metres from the doors, Alby heard a whirring sound. His heart skipped a beat and he stopped dead in his tracks, only to hear the whirring sound again. 

“Minho, don’t freak out, but I think one of those creatures is nearby.” Alby said, attempting to mask his panic by whispering. Minho glared at Alby, whispering back, “Well then don’t shucking wait, let’s go! The doors are just there!” Alby quickened his pace, suddenly taking note of how loud the echoes of their footsteps were. They hobbled back into The Glade and the moment Alby’s shoes were in contact with the grass, he heaved a sigh of relief. They had made it back, and to their surprise, the creature did not seem to be anywhere nearby.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
“Told you not to go out there shank.” Gally said, giving Minho the I-told-you-so look.

Minho rolled his eyes, it was just a sprained ankle, he was still going out into the maze when his ankle had healed. And he wasn’t going to care if he had Gally’s approval or not. The three of them sat in silence as Gally and Alby attempted to bandage Minho’s ankle. Even though Gally’s eyebrows were furrowed and he looked like he was trying to concentrate, Minho could tell that Gally was secretly reveling in Minho’s pain. 

After five minutes of silent pain, Minho jumped off of the wooden board he was lying down on and the back pain set in. A wooden bed was not kind on the body. Hopping on his right foot, Minho stretched a bit and attempted to walk into the Homestead. Alby grabbed Minho’s shoulder, offering to help him. Whispering into Minho’s ear, Alby said, “Whenever I can get away from Gally, I’ll try and help you complete the hut. But until your ankle has fully healed, I can’t allow you to go into the forest by yourself. If anything else happens to you, it could mean no running for even longer, got it?” Minho subtly nodded. 

For the next two weeks, all Alby and Gally had allowed him to do was tend to the crops, which he felt was the most time-wasting two weeks ever. For fourteen days, he picked apples, trimmed vines, watered crops, harvested crops. He was quite sure that even in his previous life, he had done activities which were more physical and well, enjoyable. Every single time Gally walked past the Gardens, he would snicker at Minho’s unfortunate situation. In fact, Gally seemed to be the only one enjoying the peace in The Glade. Even Alby seemed unhappy that Minho was stuck in the Glade when he could be finding a way out. He had attempted to sneak away to continue rebuilding the hut but Gally was like a hawk, eyes ever watching. In a three person community, it was not easy to just disappear whenever you wanted to, especially when you were always being sought after by Gally.

“Finally, some running, I was getting bored in there,”Minho chuckled. His two weeks of rest were finally over and he was raring to go. Despite lacking two weeks worth of exercise, Minho was sure he was still at the top of his game. This time, he did not need a grand send-off. He woke early and by the time Alby and Gally were up, Minho was ready to go. The doors opened, and he was off.

The freedom he was feeling was something he had not felt in a long time. The wind against his face, the adrenaline rushing through his veins, the freedom, it was the best feeling. He rounded corners, sticking to his old ‘Hansel and Gretel’ method to find his way back. Although it was life threatening, Minho had to admit, he enjoyed it, missed it even. A little excitement in his life was all he needed to survive, no, to live. 

Every day he came back, he continued building his map room. Alby would make up some excuse that Minho needed to rest. After a few days, it was finally complete. Then, he began mapping. Using, small sticks of wood, he estimated each corridor’s relative distance to each other and stuck the wood into a big sheet of cloth wrapped tautly around a wooden table. Every evening as the doors were closing, he isolated himself from Alby, from Gally, from the world. All he knew was his map. The map he knew would be a key to finding a way out.

***  
“Right on schedule. Fresh shank coming right up,”Gally announced. Minho thought, has it really been a whole month I’ve been here? It had felt longer, partly due to his temporary leave from running. The three of them approached the rising Box and looked down. The fresh arrival was in all green. Shirt, pants, you name it. He was scrawny, very skinny, unlike the three of them, who had arrived with a bulk of muscle all around. Gally joked, “Look at that greenbean.”

The Box slowed and Minho finally got a good view of the ‘greenbean’. He noticed the look of fear, panic and confusion on his face, and realised that was exactly how he was feeling one month ago. The exception was that he had chosen to throw a surprise attack on Alby and Gally, thinking he was being sent up to die.

Alby and Gally threw open the metal doors of the Box. Holding out his hand, Alby helped the ‘greenbean’ up. The greenbean looked around The Glade with awe, marvelling especially at the sheer size of the walls and the doors. Alby asked, “So, greenbean. Wait, let’s not call you a bean, how about Greenie? Yeah. So Greenie, you remember anything? Anything that happened before you woke up in The Box?”

The Greenie shook his head, almost shaking with panic. He managed to utter a few words, “Nothing. I don’t even remember, what’s my name? What is this place? Who…” Minho and Gally, deciding that it was better to leave Alby to the introductions, walked back to the Homestead. Besides, if the Greenie was surrounded by three people, in addition to his obvious panic, he could possibly pass out.

“I’m Alby, the blonde guy is Gally, and the other one is Minho. It’s just three of us here in The Glade. For now. We’ve been coming up once a month, and once a week, we get our supplies from the same Box you came up in. These walls that surround us, you wanna be thankful for them. They protect us from the creatures that lurk out in the maze. Anyway, over there is the Homestead, where we sleep. The Gardens are over in the other corner, where we plant our crops and grow our own food whenever we can. Across in the other corner are the livestock, pigs, cows, the like. And lastly, over there is the forest. It’s just where we get all our wood from. Come on, let’s go meet Gally and Minho officially. Oh yes, and your name, that should come back to you in a few days. It’s the one thing they allowed us to keep.”

As Alby and the Greenie approached the Homestead, he spoke up, “Alby, you said something about a maze. Why would there be a maze out there? And who’s they? Were all of you Greenies once too?” Alby looked at the new Greenie and sighed, explaining, “Yeah, Greenie, I guess you could say that. We don’t know why there’s a maze, but Minho’s been running through it everyday, trying to find a way out for us. Sure, this place is safe, but we need to get out to find out why we were put here. We don’t know who ‘they’ are either, but that’s why we need to get out.”

“Shank’s looking better now Alby,” Gally commented, “Not so green in the face.” Minho laughed, and jumped down from a branch he was sitting on. Unfortunately, he landed on his recently healed ankle, and there was a sharp crack. He collapsed beneath his weak leg, and ended up sprawled on the grass. Surprisingly, the Greenie rushed to his aid, kneeling down on the grass, straightening Minho’s leg, then taking off his shoe and examining his ankle. Minho, shocked from the Greenie’s response, blurted, “What the shuck are you doing Greenie?”

The Greenie was feeling Minho’s ankle, moving it around at different angles and then, out of the blue, requested Gally to get him some bandages. Then, he finally said something, “Sorry, I don’t know why I did that. It was like...like a natural instinct. Sorry, I’ll just go…” Realising that his reaction to the Greenie’s help was uncalled for, Minho started, “No! No, it’s alright. It was just a little weird, that’s all. Continue your med-jack stuff or whatever it is you were doing. I sprained it about three weeks ago. Gally’s bandaging wasn’t too good, let’s see if you can do a better job Greenie.”

This made the Greenie smile. Gally went to get a roll of bandages from the stack of supplies and handed it to the Greenie. He then wound the bandage tautly around Minho’s left ankle, covering the entire foot. He commented on the injury, “It still hasn’t healed entirely. And by the looks of it, the way it was bandaged wasn’t too good either, sorry Gally.” Gally chuckled, he was starting to like this new Greenie. He remarked, “Hey Greenie, how about you be our med-jack? You know, whenever we’re injured, just help us out. Since you either already had some advanced medical knowledge, or whoever put us here obviously put that in your head. When you’re not patching someone up, you can help us out in the Gardens. We would have liked you to be a Runner, someone to follow Minho along, but since you would be better here, it’s alright. You win some you lose some.”

That was when it hit him. He did not know how it came to him. Was it him helping to heal Minho? Whatever it was, he had remembered it. His name. It was Clint.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10  
He stopped bandaging Minho’s ankle and looked up. He appeared to be almost frozen in fear, as if he had seen a ghost. Alby stooped down and asked, “Greenie, hey, what’s wrong?” Clint looked up and muttered, “Clint. I remembered my name. I’m Clint.” Alby broke into a smile, it appeared that the Greenie -no. It appeared that Clint’s job was meant to be a med-jack. If he had remembered his name while being a med-jack, he should stay a med-jack. Patting Clint on the back, Alby congratulated him, “Congrats Clint, you’re our very first med-jack!” Clint beamed from ear-to-ear. He was feeling accepted, which was something that he never thought he would feel when he was inside The Box.

That night, Clint slept well. The feeling of knowing his name was enough to soothe him. The next morning, he awoke and realised Minho had already left for the maze, and Gally and Alby had begun doing their daily activities. This consisted of running around The Glade, both as a way of exercise, and to bring wood to the different parts of it. They also had to tend to the animals and crops. Clint wondered how they could continuously do it for three months without getting the least bit sick of the same boring routine. He decided to ask Alby, who seemed to be the leader of the place.

“Alby, sorry to disturb you, but don’t you get bored doing the same thing everyday?”  
“Not at all. You see, even though we do the same thing everyday, our minds are always moving around. What should I do next? Will today be any different? Any day now, whoever put us here could just decide to set the creatures out there on us, and we could be dead with the snap of a finger. Yes, physically, we do the same thing. But mentally, it’s always different. That’s why we all need to play our part. Minho runs, Gally and I take care of things around here. So do you, until one of us gets injured. That’s the only rule we have around here, do your part. Besides never hurting another Glader, of course. Come on, I think Gally needs some help with the pigs.”

For the next four weeks, Clint played his part in the Glade. Usually, he would assist Alby and Gally with their daily errands. On the rare occasion that one of them got a splinter or were in any way injured, Clint would step in and do what he did best. This was the only time he felt special in the Glade. Other than that, he merely felt like a worker, while Gally and Alby told him what to do. He yearned for other friends, someone else who was normal and did not need to go running everyday or who needed to continuously direct people around. Finally, after four weeks of boredom, Clint was no longer the Greenie. 

The grinding of the Box signalled the new Greenie’s arrival. Alby, Gally and Clint rushed towards the middle of the Glade, to welcome the newbie. The Greenie was not as skinny as the others, and rather hairy. As the Box rose and his face came into the light, he did not appear panicked at all. He only appeared… confused.

“What am I doing here? Where is this place? Who are you guys?” The Greenie blurted out a long string of questions. Gally and Alby pulled open the metal doors and Gally jumped into the Box. He held out a hand, saying, “Calm down Greenie, it’s alright. You’re safe here. Come on up.” The Greenie took Gally’s hand and climbed out of the Box. The same face of awe was repeated on his when he took a look around the Glade. Alby did what he always did with new Greenies, and gave him the tour of the Glade.

As Alby was preparing dinner and the doors were closing for the day, Clint took the chance to talk to the new Greenie. Luckily, he was sitting away from the other Gladers, alone at his hammock. 

“Hey Greenie, what you up to?” Clint asked, hoping the Greenie would not ignore him.  
“Nothing much, just thinking about stuff. Like my name. Speaking of which, I didn’t really catch yours.”  
“Clint. I’m the med-jack around here.”  
“Cool cool. So Alby said my name should come to me in a few days right?”  
Clint nodded, unsure of how he should respond to that. He had honestly never had a real friendly conversation before. The one’s he had with Alby, Gally or Minho were mostly about what he was supposed to do, or where he was supposed to go.

All of a sudden, Clint picked up the smell of smoke in the air. He whirled around to where Alby was preparing dinner and realised the firewood had caught fire. As fast as he could, he rushed over to the campfire. What he did not realise, was that the Greenie was faster. The Greenie practically sprinted to the fire, trying to put it out. He stomped on it several times and the fire went out with a hiss. 

“Alby, what were you thinking? That is not how you prepare chicken! You can’t just dump it into a pot of boiling water and hope it tastes good! Let me!” The Greenie took over the cooking and before long, he had prepared a meal which looked much better than anything Alby had ever made. As they dug into the Greenie’s meal, there could only be one word to describe the way they felt. Impressed. With a firm pat on the back, Minho said, “Hey Greenie, you could be our cook. Seeing as you’ve made the best meal I’ve ever had in the 2 months I’ve been here.”

“Same here. Alby’s never made any meal that was even close to this! This is the best shuckin meal ever! No offense Alby. You’re really good at this, shank,” Gally commented between bites. Alby nodded in agreement, saying, “None taken. This is really good, Greenie. Keep making more of this and we’ll be really well fed.” 

The Greenie smiled. His first day in the Glade and he was being praised for something he had done on instinct. He had not even intended to cook, but there was something gnawing at him to pick up the pots and pans and cook a meal for his new friends. That was enough for him to sleep soundly that night.

***  
A week later, and the Greenie was getting worried. Well, he could not really be called a Greenie anymore, considering he had arrived a week ago. However, that was the only thing he could be called. After all, he still had not remembered his name. At first, Alby had said his name would just come a little late. No matter how many times Alby told him this, he was convinced there was something wrong. Even Minho had only taken three days to remember his. Seven was way too many.

In order to ‘cook’ away his troubles, the Greenie sat in their make shift kitchen. It was simply a table, a campfire setup and a few pots and pans placed haphazardly around. He had decided to prepare an early dinner. Picking up a pan and some meat, he got to work. As he was frying the meat, Gally walked in. 

“What’s going on, frypan? A little early for dinner don’t you think?”  
“Nah, I’m just cooking to forget about this whole name thing. I mean, what if I never remember my name? You guys can’t just keep calling me Greenie forever. Some new guy’s gonna come up in three weeks.”  
“What if we give you a nickname? How about shank?”  
Gally received an odd stare from the Greenie.  
“Fine, what about… Hey what about Frypan? How’s that, shank? Since you’re always cooking… with your frypan…”

The Greenie put the pan down, stopping to think about the name Gally had given him. He liked it. It described who he was and what he did. And it felt like it was...his. A smile broke across his face, he had to tell the others about his new name. Frypan ran towards the Gardens, where Alby and Clint were working. 

“Sup shanks! So I was cooking and Gally suggested giving me a nickname. From now on, I am no longer the Greenie. You gotta call me Frypan!”


	11. Chapter 11

Exchanging glances, Alby and Clint asked simultaneously, “Frypan?”

Clint continued, “You alright there man? Are you sure you want to be named after a kitchen utensil?” Frypan was practically jumping up and down with glee. Despite the awkward looks he had gotten from his friends, he was still excited to finally have a name other than shank or Greenie.

* * *

“Is this what you guys did when you heard me coming up?” Frypan asked Clint. In the last three weeks, Frypan had grown closer to Clint. This was probably because Minho was always out in the maze, so only Gally and Alby knew him well. As for them, they were always discussing future plans for the glade. Frypan and Clint were the only normal ones, the only civilians, the citizens in the Glade. Now, Frypan had finally graduated from his Greenie status and could call whoever was coming up a Greenie.

Clint nodded as they sped up and ran towards the Box. As usual, Gally and Alby opened the doors and as usual, Gally jumped in, helping the new Greenie out. Despite the Greenie’s obvious awe towards everything in the Glade, he still looked rather bored. Was it something to do with his long face? Or maybe it was due to his droopy eyes? Whatever it was, this Greenie just looked extremely uninterested. What really stood out was the stench emanating from his person. It was something similar to the smell of expired milk together with that of...fart?

Trying as hard as possible to restrain himself from pinching his nose, Alby stepped forward and said the usual introductions. The Gladers introduced themselves one by one, and Alby walked off with the new Greenie, probably to ask the usual questions. Alby had expected the Greenie to overflowing with questions, just like the other Gladers had. Instead, the Greenie was practically silent throughout the whole tour. Finally, at the end, he spoke up. Even then, it was to ask Alby about his name. Apparently the Greenie was not too enthusiastic about anything.

The next day, as the daily routine started once again. Instead of finding the Greenie bugging Alby or Gally for something to do, this new Greenie was different. He had automatically gone straight for the gardens, as if he were attracted to them like a moth to a flame. The entire day, all he did was tend to the crops, without stopping, except for meals. To Gally, this new Greenie was very mysterious. He shows up, barely says anything, and just starts tending to the crops. He did not seem the least bit worried about why he was here. It was strange.

“Hey shank, any progress on remembering your name? Any clue to what it might be?” Gally asked as they were sitting around the campfire eating dinner that night. Swallowing the food he was eating, the Greenie muttered, barely audible, “Yeah, I guess you could say so…” However, Clint was rather fed up with the Greenie constantly muttering and never speaking any louder. He nudged the Greenie, “Hey, you gotta speak up man, none of us can hear you.”

“I remembered my name this morning while I was gardening. I don’t know how it just came to me like some idea. So yeah, my name is Zart.” This time, although it was still rather soft, everyone heard his name clearly. Gally uttered to Frypan, “You mean Zart the fart? I mean, that smell.” Frypan giggled to himself.

However, Minho’s reaction was slightly different. “You remembered your shuckin name this morning and you didn’t tell any of us? I mean, yeah sure, I’ve been out in the maze all day, but you didn’t tell them? Come on, man, I-”

“Calm down Minho. Zart’s just a little… reserved that’s all. I’m sure he’ll open up to us eventually. What’s gotten into you? You’ve been rather irritated lately,” Alby said, “Nevermind, we’ll discuss this later. Tonight is about Zart!” Zart smiled meekly, and continued eating.

* * *

That night, as everyone else was about to drift off to sleep, Alby approached Minho. He had seemed rather exasperated for the past few days, but Alby had waved it off as mood swings. However, tonight, Minho had snapped at Zart, which to Alby, was treading dangerously close to unacceptable.

“Minho, what’s up with you? Yesterday, you refuse to try Frypan’s new stew. Just now, you snapped at Zart. Is everything alright? You know you can just tell me if there’s anything wrong,” Alby started.

Sighing, Minho looked up and replied, “It’s just… I’ve been running the shucking thing for what, 2 months? In those 2 months, do you know what I’ve found? Nothing. Well, not nothing persay, it changes everyday, but…”

“Wait, what changes everyday?” Alby asked, ears perked up.

“The maze. Everyday it changes, moves. That’s why my mapping is all the more important. Say today I take the first left. Tomorrow, the exact location where I turned left, it’s gone. Poof. It’s just a wall. This is hopeless Alby. If this place moves everyday, how in the shucking world are we going to get out? It’s impossible. I’m memorising the directions and mapping it out, but it’s going nowhere.”

So this was what had been bothering him. Minho was losing hope. Hope of ever getting out. Hope of finding a better life than being trapped here. Hope of… anything really. Alby sat down next to him, and patting him on the shoulder, said, “Minho, I know it seems bleak now. We will get out of this. Just persevere a bit more. Don’t lose hope. I know, you should take a break from your job. Spend a few days here in The Glade, it’ll do you some good. How about that?”

Lucky for him, Minho brightened up. Smiling, he said, “Thanks for the pep talk Alby. But, I just feel like if I take a break, I won’t ever get back to it. Thanks for everything, really, but I’ll just keep at my job. That’s one of our rules, isn’t it?” Minho placed his head back in his hands and all Alby could do was retreat to his hammock and sleep. He had told Minho not to lose hope. But how could he tell Minho to do that if he himself could not?

 


	12. Chapter 12

Four weeks. Four weeks and Zart still had not quite opened up to the Gladers. Of course, Clint had attempted reaching out to him. Frypan and Alby had too. Even Gally and Minho had tried to be friends with the guy, but he was practically unable to carry out a full length conversation. This was beyond not talkative, this was… there was no word that could describe Zart. He answered questions, of course. But that was all he did. Answer questions, and tend to the plants. It was as if he communicated to them, understood them.

All day long, he did his job as the main track-hoe around the Glade. Alby had come up with the term, it was when you tracked the hoe around the gardens. The Gladers were starting to worry about the people that were coming up. It had started from Frypan. He had taken a week to remember his name, then Zart would barely speak to any of them, what kind of person were they going to get next?

Lucky for them, the next Greenie would not be too difficult. Again, they were drawn to the sound of the metal grinding. Without speaking, they all gathered by the Box, even the ever silent Zart the fart, as Gally had nicknamed him. Pulling open the metal doors, Gally jumped in again, pulled the Greenie up. And again, Alby gave the Greenie the tour. It had become a sort of ritual now. The same thing over and over again. Usually, once the metal doors were opened, the Greenie would look up at the sight of light and ask where he was, or who he was, or who the Gladers were. It was becoming rather monotonous and boring. Although they did get a first look at the new Greenie, but sometimes, it would not hurt to just meet him later.

This new Greenie was skinny but muscular, and the moment he was given some freedom around the Glade, he went straight for the animals. So, Frypan thought, Zart is a plant person, and this shank’s an animal person, could make a pretty cool meal if we were all put together. Maybe we’ll do that soon. Fortunately, the Greenie was more open to talking than Zart. The moment Frypan approached him, he asked, “Hey, Frypan right?” Frypan nodded, then continued, “Hey Greenie, what you doing here? You an animal person?”

“Yeah, I don’t know why, I just feel like… like I should... I should be here. Do you think Alby could let me be in charge of the meats?” The Greenie asked. Frypan was surprised, this shank was asking if he could have a job, he actually wanted it. No one else had actually asked for a job in the Glade. They had just gotten it, naturally. Looking around at the blood stained ground from the previous animal slaughtering, Frypan replied, “Of course, I’ll tell Alby for you. You can be in charge of this… bloodhouse. Returning to the centre of the Glade, Frypan resumed work in the Gardens while planning the night’s dinner.

The next day, the Gladers woke up to discover the Greenie by the Bloodhouse, as Frypan had coined it. Apparently, one of the chickens had died overnight and was lying on the grass, it’s frail body in the middle of the area. To Frypan, this just meant more meat sooner, instead of constantly waiting for their supply to run out. However, to the Greenie, it appeared to be so much more than that. It was as if he had an emotional tether to it. He knew working the Bloodhouse would mean slaughtering the animals, but one could only guess he just wanted to spend time with them. Perhaps it was something like a love-hate relationship? No one could tell.

“Sorry about that Greenie. You seemed to be really attached to the animals. There’s nothing we can do now. You win some, you lose some, you know?” Gally said, attempting to comfort the Greenie. This made the Greenie look up. Something Gally had said had triggered something in him. He knew it now. His name. It was Winston.

It began as a whisper, but grew into shouts of joy. “Winston! My name, it’s Winston!” The Greenie shouted. The Glade was silent. Only moments before, the Greenie had been mourning the loss of a chicken, but now, Winston was practically jumping with joy from remembering his name. Surprised by the sudden change, Clint patted Winston on the back, congratulating him.

As the Gladers headed back towards the Homestead, Alby realised that they now had at least one person in each ‘job sector’. Gally as the builder, Frypan as the cook, Zart as the track-hoe, Clint as the med-jack, Winston as a slicer and Minho as a runner. When more people came up, these were the ones who had keep everyone under control, the Keepers. It was really good, how everything was slowly coming together. It was better than good, it was fantastic. He recalled how bleak his life had looked that first day, about half a year ago, how he never thought he would survive for long. Things were definitely looking up.

* * *

A month later, another Glader. This one was tall and lanky, with ruffled blond hair and a British accent. The first thing he said when the doors were opened was ‘Where the bloody heck am I?’ All the Gladers roared with laughter. The Greenie was the first to have a different accent from all of them, which made for quite interesting conversations. After the usual introductions, they left the Greenie to go wandering off by himself. Instead of sticking to one area in the Glade, this Greenie took the time to explore the entire Glade. He took a stroll through the forests, and made the effort to visit each of the Keepers at their jobs. To all of the Gladers, this Greenie was certainly the most eager to learn.

That night, as they sat around the campfire, Alby asked the Greenie, “Hey shank, so there’s something you need to decide. Which job do you want to do? You’re literally the first Greenie who’s come up that probably won’t be a Keeper for anything. After all, each of us are already the Keeper of each job sector. So you have the freedom of choosing any one you want. We noticed you were exploring the Glade just now, seems like you got a pretty good idea of what each of them is like.”

The Greenie nodded in agreement, saying, “Yeah, I managed to get an inkling of what it’s like. But I think I want to give each job a try. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be a Runner, like you, Minho, was it? Then the next day I’ll go with Frypan, then Clint, then Gally, Zart and Winston. Something like that. Would that be alright?” The Gladers agreed on it.

The next day, as the sun was rising, the Greenie was tossing and turning in his hammock. As he rolled around, he seemed to be muttering something. Alright, Newt, just step in here. It felt like a distant memory. Newt. Was that his name? He jolted awake and rolled off his hammock. “Newt,” he whispered to himself. It sounded right, it sounded like it was his. He repeated it, softly at first, then louder.

“Newt...Newt. My name is Newt!” He jumped up from the ground and ran around the Homestead, waking the Gladers up. Unfortunately, it was a rather rude awakening and the Glade was filled with sounds of shushing. People like Alby, Gally and Minho were more used to the Gladers remembering their names, and found Newt’s remembering to be less eventful than the first few.

“So, Newt huh? Since today is your first day, and hopefully not last, you’ll be running with me. If you choose to continue being a Runner, you gotta go on your own, got it? Don’t start wetting your pants, now. Alright, let me just give you a short briefing. In the morning, you’ll come to me to receive your assignment, then, when the doors open, we run. Come back before the doors close, map what you’ve run, and if you survive, we do it all over again the next day. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, there’s a map room somewhere in the forest-”

“Yeah I saw it. Pretty cool place. Did you build it all by yourself?” Newt interrupted.

Minho, feeling slightly annoyed, continued, “Yup I did. With my own bare hands while healing from a twisted ankle too. As I was saying, be careful out there. The first day Alby was here, he got a rude shock from some creature lurking out there. Don’t want that thing to get its hands on you, alright. But for today, all you have to do is watch me, and shank, try to keep up.” As the doors opened, Minho ran forward in front of Newt with a smirk.

As Minho brought Newt around the maze, Minho realised how much he enjoyed having a buddy to run with. After a few months of running by himself, having Newt run next to him was definitely much better. Newt noticed that as soon as Minho had rounded a corner, he sliced off a piece of a vine from the wall. The maze towered over them, with long vines running down the walls, but not quite stretching all the way to the top.

Despite Minho having told Newt to try to keep up, Newt did not feel that running with him was particularly strenuous. Perhaps he could join Minho permanently. However, Newt wanted to keep his mind open to other job sectors. Sure, one day in the maze was fun, but would he get tired of it after doing it for several months?

That evening, Newt and Minho returned from the maze. Heading straight for the map room, Minho explained to Newt that the maze changed everyday, which is why he had to constantly map its changes. When they arrived, Newt picked up the small wooden pegs that were lying at one corner of the map room and assisted Minho in his daily mapping.

* * *

“Alright shank, today you’ll be learning the ropes of the kitchen with Frypan!” Frypan announced. Newt chuckled. Frypan appeared to be the jokester of the Glade, always attempting to lighten the mood. For the rest of the day, Frypan showed Newt how to cook certain things, and where to keep the pots and pans. He also taught Newt his number one rule, never tell anyone what was in his stew. Claiming it was a secret, he moved on to other things.

Later that afternoon, Newt strolled over to Frypan’s kitchen and noticed something. There was a distinct plopping sound coming from where he was standing. Which was over the pots. Frypan could not be… no, that was disgusting, but he had to ask.

“What the bloody heck are you doing Frypan? Are you taking a dump in the pots? What with all the klunking sounds?” Newt asked. Frypan whirled around, and Newt realised that Frypan was not defecating into the pots, he was merely dropping carrots into his stew. Frypan gasped, “Newt, why would I ever? I respect my food, and I would never take a… a klunk in the kitchen!”

As the Gladers sat around the campfire that night, Frypan retold the story of ‘The klunk in the kitchen’ and they all roared with laughter. After a while, as it was getting late, Winston excused himself, saying, “Sorry, guys, gotta take a klunk! Was that right Frypan?” For the second time, they all chuckled. Newt thought, I guess this place is not as bad as I originally thought. These guys seem quite friendly and fun, how bad can this place be?


	13. Chapter 13

The next day, Newt met Clint by the edge of the forest. Clint had told him he would be learning some basic first-aid skills, so that he could not only help himself, he could tend to others too. After about half a day of teaching Newt the different ways to bandage someone, Newt could only sum up what he was feeling in one word, bored. Sure, learning first-aid would come in handy someday, but he felt that bandaging people was just not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

“Alright shank, today we’ll be working on a slaughterhouse for Winston. Since we’ve finally got a slicer, the shank’s gonna need a shack, a Bloodhouse. We can’t have blood splattering all over the grass can we? First things first, go gather some of the wood from the forest,” Gally instructed. It was Newt’s third day of trying out the different jobs, and today it was Gally’s turn to have an extra pair of hands.

Newt trudged over to the corner directly across the future site of the Bloodhouse. He thought, I sure hope Gally is actually going to teach me how to be a Builder. If he’s just using me as free labour, I’m definitely not joining him as a Builder. He picked up the pile of wood lying by the side of the forest and trudged back.

For the rest of the day, Gally told Newt in what order to put the planks and how to tie them so they did not fall apart. Although building was more physical than first-aid, he still did not enjoy it too much. It was probably because Gally would not listen to any of the suggestions Newt had given. Newt knew Gally had a plan in mind, but it would have been better if Gally did not tell him over and over again: ‘Shank, I know you’ve got ideas, but it’s vital that this is placed here. The whole building could collapse. Maybe you can do the planning for the next building.’

The next day, and it was Zart’s turn to have Newt as help. The moment Newt arrived, he picked up a hoe and was about to track it around the gardens, when Zart ran up to him. He shook his head violently, then said quietly, “No, not yet. I have to teach you the different kinds of plants.” Newt was stunned. This was the most interaction he had ever had with Zart. Perhaps Alby was right, perhaps Zart just needed some time.

Throughout the day, Newt listened carefully to every single thing Zart told him. How often each crop needed to be watered, when they were in season, how to walk around such that he did not trample on anything. It was rather fascinating, as Newt learnt where the ingredients from Frypan’s stew came from. However, as soon as Zart was done teaching, he wandered off around the garden, leaving Newt practically speechless. He had a rough outline of what he was to do, but it seemed that Zart definitely did the most communication with his plants. That ruled track-hoe out.

Last, but not least, Newt interned with Winston. “Don’t make any sudden noises, you don’t wanna startle them too much. Be careful when carrying the torches around them, they’re terrified of fire. If it gets too close to them, they might go crazy and run away. All you’ve got to do is observe them, watch their behaviour, and feed them 3 times a day, just like us. Caring for animals is easy, just treat them as you would yourself,” Winston explained.

Newt sat down on a hay bale by the side of the half completed Bloodhouse, and did exactly what Winston told him to do. Watch. Every few minutes, he would get up and take a stroll around. However, like being a med-jack, it was not all that fun. Towards the end of the day, Winston agreed to show Newt how to slaughter one of the animals. He demonstrated this on one of the chickens. After it was done, although Newt found it just slightly more exciting, Winston commented that they only killed the animals when it was required. Other than that, being a Slicer was mostly just caring for them.

“So, Newt, you’ve tried out every single one of the jobs. What do you want to do?” Alby asked at the end of the day. Newt contemplated for a while, then answered, “Being a med-jack wasn’t too bad, it’s literally bloody fascinating. But, it’s quite...um boring. Sorry Clint. Building with Gally’s quite fun too, but I don’t think I can stand just being manual labour, no offense Gally. As for Track-hoe and Slicer, it just doesn’t feel like I’m meant for those jobs. Now, running with Minho. When I was out there about a week ago, now that felt right. It was shucking fun. I think I’ll be a Runner.”

“Yes! Finally, a fellow Runner!” Minho leapt off the log he was sitting on, and almost spilled his stew. Noticing the weird stares he was receiving, Minho sat back down, attempting to hide his embarrassed face in the bowl. Sitting back up, he patted Newt on the back and congratulated him. All the other Gladers did the same. That night, Newt drifted off the sleep peacefully, knowing he really belonged in the Glade.

* * *

After a month of being a Runner, Newt definitely felt exhausted. But as every morning came, it delivered a feeling of exhilaration every time. That day, when he awoke, he heard one of the most unpleasant sounds. It was Minho and Gally. They seemed to be arguing.

“No way! No way any of us are going to let you!” Even with his eyes closed, Newt could tell that was Gally.

“Why ever shucking not? I certainly think I deserve it!” Minho was yelling at him. Newt had never heard Minho so angry before.

Alby stepped in, and attempted to break them up. He tried to overpower their voices, but to no avail. “Guys, we can discuss this later! There’s a new Greenie on the way! We don’t want to give him a bad impression of the place! Can’t you control yourselves for a little while?” However loud Alby shouted, Minho and Gally would not hear it. He sighed and walked over to the Box that was slowly rising.

Newt followed Alby over to the Box, and helped him open up the metal box. He would try to break Minho and Gally up later, but now, now he had to tend to the new Greenie. Alby took over Gally’s role, and jumped into the Box. He said, “Hey Greenie, welcome to the Glade!”

“Who are you? Where am I? Tell my mum, it’s George here!” The Greenie shouted immediately. Alby scanned the Greenie. He was rather small and short, and seemed to be very agitated. Cuts and bruises covered his exposed skin. He could tell that the Greenie had been bouncing around inside the Box, and he must have hit his head and remembered his name. George.

Alby helped the Greenie out of the Box. However, at the worst timing possible, Minho and Gally’s argument had escalated. Newt and Frypan were trying to calm them down, but Gally’s overpowering figure only frightened them. In fact, Minho and Gally were pushing and shoving each other, and had made it all the way over to the Box. The moment the Greenie looked around, he practically jumped at the sight of Minho and Gally. One could only guess it was because he thought Gally was shouting at him. Unfortunately, he also noticed the open doors to the Maze and made a mad dash for them.

Noticing the Greenie’s attempted escape, Newt bolted after him. However, the Greenie was not only small, he was fast, and was outrunning Newt. It would be almost impossible for Newt to catch up to him. As Newt was running, he thought, this guy would make a good Runner, if I could just catch him. Newt was more used to running around in the Maze, without anyone or thing chasing him. Now, he was chasing the small kid, George.

Just as he was about to catch up, George made it out of the Maze. He had gotten out. Newt screamed, “No! George! Come back! You don’t wanna be out there! Ugh, bloody shank.” At this moment, Alby had caught up to him. Putting a hand on his shoulder, Alby said, “Newt, it’s alright. You tried your best. Minho ran out his first day too. But he came back. George, he’ll come back eventually. There’s nothing we can do now. Even if you follow him, we don’t want both of you to get lost.” Newt wanted to believe him. He questioned himself, why did George run out in the first place? Turning back to face The Glade, he remembered. Minho and Gally.

Storming over to them, Newt managed to hear their argument again.

“No way Minho! You’re the Keeper of the Runners, and you weren’t even the second person to get here! Who was, I wonder. Oh yeah, it was me!”

“You? You want to be second-in-command? That’s shucking great! Then we can argue everyday about how to do things! Don’t you know why Newt didn’t join the Builders? It was all because he couldn’t stand you!

“Oh please. I’ve been here a whole month longer than you. I think I know how things work around here a lot better than you do. You’re just being greedy, trying to kiss up to Alby’s ass isn’t it?”

“You’re the one being greedy! Weren’t you saying the other day how important the job of Builder was to you? If it’s so important in this shucking place, you don’t need to be second-in-command, do you?”

“And here we see why you obviously can’t be second! Your reasoning makes no sense! I would rather anyone be second-in-command rather than you, even the shucking Greenie! You, shank, are just a greedy Asian!”

That was definitely the end of the line, insulting Minho’s heritage like that. Before the argument could escalate any more, Newt stormed right into the middle and with a firm shove, he pushed them apart.

“Shut up! What are you, bloody 5 year olds? Arguing about who’s gonna be Alby’s best friend? Gally, it’s bloody rude to insult Minho’s race like that. Do that again and… Anyway, because of you guys, we just lost the bloody Greenie! He ran out into the Maze! You!” He pointed to Gally. “And you!” He pointed to Minho. “Scared the Greenie, made him klunk his pants! For all we know, he may never come back and our entire month of waiting was wasted all because of you two and your pointless arguments!”

That definitely shut them up. Minho and Gally could only stare, stunned by what Newt had just said. So was Alby. He walked up to the trio, and announced, loud enough so even Clint, Frypan, Winston and Zart could hear, “I think this argument has definitely been resolved. Thanks to Newt. He’s got discipline, and knows the right time and right place to do things. That’s why I’m making him, my second-in-command.”

“Woah, woah, woah. Alby, no way. I’ve only been here a month, I don’t know anything about keeping these guys in order,” Newt defended. He was certainly not ready to become a leader of anything.

Lucky for Newt, Gally agreed with him. “Alright, we’re sorry. And I was joking about making the Greenie second-in-command. But Alby, I’ve been by your side, setting up this place for 9 months. This shank has been here barely a month, and you want him?”

Alby nodded, explaining, “Yes, Gally. I acknowledge that you have been very helpful to me, keeping me company when I was alone. However, in the past 9 months you’ve been here, this isn’t the first argument you’ve been in. That first month alone, you and me, we disagreed on where to sleep! I tried to explain it to you rationally, but you just kept shouting! Newt here, he stopped you and Minho, even when I couldn’t. I would rather he take over if or when I’m not around.”

“But Alby,” Gally interjected, “I helped you plan this shucking place, I built it with you. You were nothing without me! This shank-”

“See? There you go again. Minho, I’m sorry, but with your duties as Keeper of the Runners, you definitely will not have the time to babysit these guys. At least Newt will have the freedom to stay if he so pleases. Gally, I don’t think I need to say anymore. Trust me, this is better for everyone.”

All the Gladers could tell, Alby’s word was final. Newt was his second-in-command.

As they were walking back to the Homestead, Newt realised they had spent almost the whole day arguing. The Greenie had arrived at around late morning, the running and the arguing, had that really been the entire day? Hold on, he thought, the running… George!

“Guys, we forgot about the Greenie! George!” Newt reminded them. All 8 Gladers exchanged glances, and ran towards the door. As they neared it, they managed to make out sounds of crying. The sound echoed off the stone walls of the Maze, and sounded as if George was getting closer. They guessed that he had run off crying, then tried to make his way back, even more frightened of the walls than he had been of Gally.

Minho was about to run into the Maze to get him, but Alby pulled him back. There was only one reason why. The doors were closing.

“If he don’t get him back, he’ll die!” Minho said. Next, Clint tried talking to George. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted into the Maze, “George! Follow the sound of my voice! Get back! The doors are closing! Hurry!”

However, they all knew that George would not make it. As the opening between the doors narrowed to a slit, they could make out George’s silhouette at the end of the corridor. They encouraged him to come faster, but he was too late. They managed to hear the whirring and clicking sounds of the creature, before the doors closed with a deafening boom, cutting off George’s desperate screams from the Gladers.

 


	14. Chapter 14

Was it just that morning, that George had arrived? He had been so small, so scared. He had run for it the moment he had a chance. Was he really gone? Zart tried to convince himself otherwise, but it was almost impossible. George was done for. He could be eaten, or even killed by whatever creature was out there. Zart had heard the story of how Minho and Alby only just got back in time, before they could have been attacked. They had been that close to death. Now, George was looking death in the face.

"He's gone," Minho announced the obvious. The Gladers stood by the stone doors for almost ten minutes, before breaking away and walking back to the Homestead. Winston noticed from the corner of his eye that Gally seemed to be rather upset, almost pouting. He had a feeling it was more than just George's probable death, it was because of the earlier argument. The one regarding who was to be second-in-command. In the end, it was neither Minho nor Gally who had won, but Newt.

Finally, Alby spoke. "There's nothing we can do now. I may have only gotten a glimpse of the creature, but I know George won't stand a chance against it. At best we'll find his b...body by the doors tomorrow morning, then we can give him a proper funeral. Come on, let's get some rest." As the Gladers retreated to their hammocks, Newt thought he heard Gally muttering to himself. Something about shucking shank, Alby, Newt. He could only guess that Gally was ranting to himself about the earlier events. He had seemed the most agitated when Newt was made second-in-command. However, that was not the current issue at hand. Trying his best to drift off to sleep, Newt lay down and stared at the stars.

* * *

"Guys! There's something by the doors!" The Gladers were woken by Minho's shouts. They hurriedly rushed over, and noticed there seemed to be a distorted figure lying by the ground. Minho stuck his head out of the Glade, and took a chance, running forward, grabbing the figure, and running back in. He laid the figure on the grass, and at one look, they knew what -or who- it was. It was George. Calling for Clint, Alby shouted, "Med-jack!"

Clint squeezed between Gally and Frypan and knelt down next to George's body. At closer look, he realised there were small bumps all over his arms and legs. The veins around these bumps were more obvious, and so George was covered in purple and blue lines. Clint surveyed the body, saying, "It appears he was stung." Just then, he noticed George's small chest rising up and down. Could he still be alive? Clint placed his ear by George's mouth, attempting to listen for his breathing. Clint's expression changed from one of concern, to one of pure joy. He heard breathing.

As he was about to announce the news, George jumped to life. He grabbed onto Clint's body, pulling it down, then seized a bunch of his hair, attempting to pull it off. Gally rushed forward and grabbed George by his shoulders. It was quite difficult for Gally to place George on his shoulders, he was thrashing about, screaming and shouting.

"No! You don't understand! We can never get out!" George screamed. Gally slapped him firmly on the cheek, then ordered, "Frypan, Zart, get some string, we gotta tie this shank up. Minho, help me bring him over to the edge of the forest." Still struggling to get free, George was lifted into the air. They brought him to one of the thicker tree stumps, one that was cut at a rather high point, then used the string to tie his body to the trunk, arms by his side.

Gally picked up a spear from their pile of primitive weapons and pointed it at George. He threatened, "Listen shank, you better stop trying to get out. You're not sane. Now shut up, before I shove this spear up your-"

"Gally! Hand it to me, I'll try and talk to him," Alby took over. The Gladers backed away from the stump, keeping a safe distance between them and the crazed shank. However, Alby, armed with the spear, took a step closer. He spoke, "George. George, try to calm down. It's me, Alby. Try to calm down. You were stuck out in the Maze, we don't know what happened, but we will find out."

"No! No! We can never get out! It's better for all of us to die here! No!" George was still screaming pointlessly, trying to get a hold on Alby, trying to attack him like he had Clint. His eyes were wild and bloodshot, and his arms were flailing all over the place, as if he had no control over them. To Alby, it was clear now that the George they knew for five minutes, was no longer there.

"Come on, George. We're your friends, we're not going to hurt you. Just… just show me a sign, anything. Show me the real George is still there. I don't know what to do. I know you're there George. I know you're not totally crazy. Please, I don't want to do this. Show me you're there." Alby attempted to reason with him. However, every sentence he spoke only caused George to erupt in more screams and shouts. In fact, he had begun frothing at the mouth, the white substance staining his clothes and the ground below him. If Alby let this continue, George could get out, and only hurt the Gladers more.

With a sigh, Alby looked down at the spear in his hand. He whispered to himself, "I'm sorry, I'll try to do better next time. Forgive me George." With a firm arm, he threw the spear, hitting George square in the chest. The screams and shouts were silenced. Alby had killed George.

* * *

"Well Alby you didn't have to bloody kill the shank! We could have-"

"We could have done what? If we let him go, what do you think he could have done to you guys? Look what he did to Clint! Almost made the shank bald! We can't risk anything!"

Newt was still trying to figure out why Alby had done it. Why he had killed him. To him, they could have tried to find out what had happened. Maybe he needed to rest. Maybe Clint could take another look at him. Anything. But killing the Greenie? Sure, he had been out of his mind, and yes, the screams and shouts were agonizing to listen to, but killing him? Newt was still relatively new, but even he knew that Alby's number one rule was 'Never hurt another Glader'. Next to 'Do your part', of course.

All of a sudden, Newt had an idea. "Well we can't just let any old shank wander off into the Maze. From now on, when a Greenie comes up, we should create a human wall around him, make sure he doesn't have a chance to get out. And we need a rule against going out ever again. To make sure that no one, other than the Runners, goes out of the Glade." Alby nodded, agreeing with Newt's new rule. The others felt the same, even Gally, who reluctantly nodded. Gally had to admit, Newt was not doing too bad as second-in-command. Perhaps Alby's decision was for the better.

Later that day, Frypan and Zart carried George's lifeless body through the forest. Stepping over fallen branches and leaves, they found a clearing in the forest. They gingerly placed him down, into the hole Gally had dug just a few minutes earlier. Then, they piled the dug up soil on top, finishing the grave with a stone placed by George's head. Alby had carved his name into it, using a hammer and a splinter of wood. Stepping back, they took a look at George's grave, then bowed their heads down for a moment of silence.

After that, Alby felt it was right to make a short speech about George. "George was our latest Greenie. He was small, and fast. He would have been a good Runner, and an even better friend. We cannot place the blame of his death on any one person, it was all our faults. Most of all, it was the fault of the people who put us here. If we were never here, George may still be alive, with his parents, or anyone who cared for him. Let his death be a reminder of why we are here, and our sole purpose. Survive. Find a way out."

Winston commented, "We just got him, and now we're grieving for his death. Those creatures, if we don't stop them, we'll just keep grieving for more people. They're… they're Grievers."

* * *

That night, as they were eating dinner, Gally spoke up, for the first time since their argument the previous day. He announced, "I don't think we can let anyone break any of these rules. George, he broke two of the rules. And Alby stuck a spear in him. We need a way of punishing any shanks who break the rules. Make them klunk their pants and know what they did wrong. And we can't just kill them. I propose we make a prison of some sort. Punishments can be dealt on a case-by-case basis. Anyone breaks any of the three rules, we shove em in, slam the door. They spend a day in the Slammer."

Although what Gally just said was rather insensitive, Minho agreed with what Gally was saying. If any of the Gladers did run out of the Maze, Minho would have to hunt them down and bring them back. That would make it almost impossible for him to run the Maze, and find the rule breakers at the same time. He would never get back on time. The Gladers agreed with Gally, and Alby told him to begin work on his Slammer the next morning.

Alby and Newt were unloading the weekly supplies the next morning, when they noticed something else lying in the box. It appeared to be a small crate. It did not contain the usual food, water, cloth. Instead, they found several needles, filled with a bright green liquid. Attached to the crate was a note, the longest note they had ever received.

No more killing. Within days of being stung, death follows. This is a cure. Use it well.

_A/N: What do you think? I would be really grateful if you leave a comment/suggestion/general review down below! Thanks! :)_


	15. Chapter 15

“Well this is bloody great! The day after the Greenie dies, then they send up a cure!” Newt said, exasperated. Alby picked up the crate of syringes, examining it. After a few minutes, he said ominously, “They sent up this cure after we killed George because he got stung. What if… what if they don’t want us to die? Maybe they don’t want more of us to be killed because of the Grievers.” Newt continued, “Then they definitely didn’t send us up to die. So, that begs the question, why are we here?”

Alby and Newt brought the small crates, together with their supplies, to the Homestead. They placed it carefully on the top shelf of a shed Gally had recently built. They had decided that it would be better if they had a place to put their supplies, instead of leaving them lying around on the ground. Then, they told the other Gladers of what just happened, except Minho of course, who was busy running.

All the Gladers had mixed reactions to the arrival of the cure. Gally looked rather annoyed -was he still angry about the second-in-command thing?-, Clint and Winston looked quite surprised, and Zart and Frypan looked too taken aback to do or say anything. “It doesn’t matter why they want us to live, or why we’re here. All that matters is that we have to get out,” Alby reminded them. He was right. Everything they had done so far, was all so that Minho and Newt, when he could spare the time to run, could find a way out. And that was exactly what they were going to continue to do.

* * *

Another month, another Glader. The Greenie was tall and pale, with short blond hair and bulging muscles. After the usual introductions, Gally suggested to Alby that the Greenie be a Builder but Alby dismissed it, telling him they would discuss it during dinner. However, that afternoon, as the Greenie was wandering around the Glade, he heard a sound. It sounded like… was it Zart? He could not quite remember the names. He tried to found the source of the sound, and realised it was coming from the Gardens. Immediately, he sprinted over, picking up to maximum speed within the first five meters. In no time, he had reached Zart.

Stooping down, he took a look at Zart, and realised that he had twisted his ankle. Zart had been stepping over the crops, and fell into a small hole. The Greenie called for Clint to come faster, but Clint was still running over. He had been in the Homestead, and the Greenie had reached Zart even before he had. Clint rushed over, struggling to breathe. How had the Greenie arrived at the Gardens in half the time it took Clint, and faster than Newt?

As Clint attended to Zart’s ankle, Newt patted the Greenie on the back, commenting, “Wow shank, you got some quick feet there. You would make a bloody good Runner, I’ll talk to Minho when he comes back, see about you getting that job.” The Greenie’s spirits lifted. His first day and he was already getting a job recommendation, from the Glade’s second-in-command, too! Eagerly awaiting dinner time, when he could try what the Gladers had told him was Frypan’s famous stew, he continued exploring the rest of the Glade.

“Hey Greenie, Newt told me all about what happened earlier? So, you wanna be a Runner? Maybe I’ll bring you along tomorrow, see how you like it. If you do, you can be my second-in-command. Alby’s got one, so why can’t I? I would’ve made Newt mine, but he’s already Alby’s, so I’ll see how you fare against the Maze. Anyway, tomorrow as soon as the sun rises, meet me behind the Homestead, we’ll get you suited up,” Minho told the Greenie.

Gally stepped in, and he seemed to be rather annoyed. Pointing to Minho, he threatened, “Hey! Alby said this one was mine. I need a new Builder.” Minho retaliated back, “Slim it Gally. You saw how fast the shank ran, he’d be better off a Runner. Besides, I’m bent on having him as my second-in-command.”

All of a sudden, it was as if a switch had flipped in his brain. Bent… The Greenie perked up, the word was on the tip of his tongue. It was not just any word. It was his name. He only said one word, “Ben.” This made Minho and Gally’s argument come to a stop. They turned to face the Greenie. “I’m sorry Greenie, did you say something?” Gally asked. He repeated, “Ben. My name is Ben.”

Minho put his arm around Ben and pulled him closer, smiling and saying, “Welcome to the Runners, Ben.” Ben smiled, his first day as a Glader was going very well.

* * *

Ben jumped up and down, warming up his body. Minho had just given him the briefing, what to do, what not to do, the basic rules. He had also told Ben about the map room, and had said that he would teach him how to map once they had gotten back. As soon as the Doors opened, they were off. To Minho, this was the third person he had brought with him into the Maze. First was Alby, then was Newt, and now it was Ben. Just like he had done twice before, he taught Ben to cut off a piece of vine every time they rounded a corner. In fact, Ben was quite a fast learner. Before they had rounded five corners, Ben was already rushing forward to help Minho cut off the vines. Ben was definitely elated to become a Runner.

When they got back to the Glade, Minho brought Ben straight to the map room. Dramatically pulling the covering off his map, he then taught Ben how to map each part of where they had run systematically. This was so that they did not miss a single inch of the Maze. The more precise they were, the closer they were to getting out. As Ben observed Minho, he realised that the Glade was surrounded completely by the Maze. With his eyes, he formed imaginary lines, cutting the entire map into a grid of nine. The Glade was smack in the centre, and the Maze occupied the other eight squares. Eight squares. Eight sections.

Ben realised this, and whispered, “Minho, I don’t think they’re just parts of the Maze.”

“Shank, you gotta speak up, I can’t hear nothing,” Minho said.

“They’re sections. Eight different sections.” Pointing to each part, he commented, “One, here in the top left. Two, right at the top, Three, top right. Four, left of the Glade. Five, right of the Glade. Six, bottom left. Seven, right at the bottom. Eight, bottom right. Eight different sections. Have you been noticing any differences each day?” Ben asked.

Minho was speechless, he muttered, “Well I’ll be shucked. Now that you mention it, every day, I take a different route and then everything else is pretty much the same after that. I guess… Wow, this is shucking impressive Ben. You’re a pretty smart shank. Wow, yeah, everyday is just a different section. Today we did...section 7. Looks like we have more than just mapping to do every day. I’ll bring this up during dinner, good job today Greenie.” Ben thought to himself, I am definitely going to stay a Runner. I’m not going to give up on this idea I’ve started.

That night at dinner, Minho spoke up, “Hey shanks, listen up! Today, Ben discovered something. As you all know, I’ve been mapping the Maze ever since I started running it. Our Greenie here made a pretty shucking cool revelation. Each part of the Maze is a section. He divided into eight of them. This shank, he brought us one step closer to finding a way out. Let’s give it up for Ben!”

The Gladers lifted their cups up, and Ben looked around the campfire. Even though he had barely been there for a week, he knew that things were going to get better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know Ben is a builder in the book, but for the ease of writing the discovery of the sections, I made him a Runner, sorry :(


	16. Chapter 16

“Same old thing every single month. Come on Frypan, time to head over to The Box,” Clint said, waving Frypan over. They walked over to the Box and watched as Alby and Newt, who had taken over Gally’s role of opening the doors, did what they always did, and Gally jumped in. Helping the Greenie out of the Box, Clint finally got a good look at the shank. He was quite tall, but not as tall as Gally, and he had a buzz cut. He had a rather pudgy nose, and it looked rather similar to a fat lemon.

The Gladers welcomed the Greenie, and after Alby’s introductions, dispersed to continue their jobs, leaving Clint behind to talk to the Greenie. Trying his best to look welcoming, Clint said, “Hey Greenie, welcome to the Glade. Um… since everyone else has gone off to their jobs, why don’t I show you around a bit? Since I don’t really have much to do… My name’s Clint, if you didn’t catch it, I’m the med-jack around here.”

The Greenie nodded meekly, then followed Clint as he showed the Greenie around the Glade. Finally, as Clint was about to his work area, which was the shack behind the Homestead, the Greenie asked him, “Mind if I follow you? I just don’t know what else I can do around here.” Clint smiled and nodded. Maybe the Greenie could become a med-jack too, he thought.

A week later, and Clint’s prediction had been right. He and the Greenie, who had remembered his name only a few days ago, were both med-jacks. Clint and Jeff. He liked the sound of it. Although Gally had been bugging Alby for a new Builder, but Jeff had stuck to Clint ever since he had arrived, and they were practically inseparable. Everywhere they went, you would never see Clint or Jeff alone.

***  
“7-1-5-2-6-4-8-3,” Minho muttered under his breath. It had been 2 months since Ben had discovered the different sections. They had been monitoring the patterns of which section were accessible every day. After eight weeks, they had realised it really was a pattern. The same section numbers were repeated every week, which further convinced them that it was the key to finding their way out. It felt so close, yet so far, Minho could not quite grasp it.

As they were suiting up for the day, they heard the Box come up. Deciding they could delay their departure just for a while, considering they knew that day’s section was going to be 4, he walked over to the Box. Alby, Newt and Gally did what they always did. Minho realised he had not been present for the arrival of a Greenie since George’s arrival. This new Greenie was tall and lanky, but not very muscular. Although it had only been two months, it had felt much longer, considering they had discovered a lot during that time. “Come on, Minho, let’s go,” Ben said, coming from behind. Minho nodded and they went off into the Maze.

“How are you guys going to get out?” The Greenie asked two nights after that. He had remembered his name earlier that day, it was Stephen. As he was mostly skin and bones, even Gally knew he would not be getting a new Builder yet. Gally was slowly getting over that fact, but was still as moody as ever. It had been going on for about four months, his grumpiness, and Alby knew Gally may never go back to being the sarcastic, fun guy he befriended ten months earlier. Ten months. Had it really been that long?

“That’s why we’re here Steph,” Minho replied, “Ben and I, we run every day, trying to find a way out. We think we’re getting closer, but it’ll take some time. Why do you ask? Got an idea in that shank brain?”

Stephen hesitated, then continued, “I think...maybe...You know how one Greenie comes up every month through the Box?” The Gladers nodded simultaneously. “Well, if the supplies come up weekly, and a shank comes up monthly, have you guys ever tried going...going down it? Like you said, the Box just disappears after a while, but what if we go down with it? Even if we don’t go down with the Box, what if we lower ourselves down into the shaft? It could be a way out!”

The Gladers exchanged looks, they all had to admit, Stephen’s idea was not bad. It may actually work. However, none of them was willing to submit themselves to possible death. Although it could be a way out, there were definitely not willing to die for an experiment. Newt realised this and asked Stephen, “That’s a bloody good idea, Stephen. But… no way in klunk are we gonna let ourselves die for an experiment. It may work, but I don’t think any of us want to die for it. I’m sorry, but I’m sure Minho and Ben will find a way out eventually. Besides-”

“I’ll do it, I’ll go,” Stephen interrupted, “My idea, I’ll go. I’m the Greenie anyway, not like you guys will miss me that much, right?” The Gladers did not want to admit it, but he was right. They had only lost George two months ago, and were hesitant to possibly let another Greenie die, but if Stephen was up for it, he could do it. Alby nodded, and warned, “Alright, but if we lose you… We better not lose you, got it shank?” Stephen bobbed his head vigorously, he was definitely up for it.

The next morning, as the supplies were being unloaded, the Gladers all gathered around the Box, even Minho and Ben. They had sacrificed another day of running. After all, if Stephen’s idea worked, there was no point in them running. After the Box was empty, Stephen jumped in. Then, he sat there. Newt sat by the side of the Box, chatting with Stephen while the other Gladers went on to do their jobs. They had all retreated to the Homestead, or the Gardens, or the Bloodhouse, and Minho, Ben and Alby were waiting by the side.

By midday, Stephen was still sitting in the Box waiting. The Gladers were getting restless, the Box was not showing any signs of descending into the dark abyss. Usually, by lunch time, the Box would be long gone. Today, it appeared to be too stubborn to move. There were no indications of even a turning gear in the long shaft. The sun had reached its peak and Newt had grabbed a piece of cloth and used it to shelter himself.

“Sorry shank, but it looks like the Box isn’t going anywhere. It’s alright, we’ve been living here for a long time, everything isn’t too bad,” Newt said. But even as he said this, he felt guilty for lying to Stephen, and for lying to himself. It had been four months since he had arrived, and already he was getting sick of the place. It was almost like an extreme feeling of claustrophobia. Sure, he had gone running every now and then, but the urge to escape from the Glade was unbearable.

Stephen sighed, but immediately lit up with another bright idea. “What if, we wait for the Box to go down, then you guys lower me down into it? I’m probably the lightest out of all of you, it shouldn’t be too hard, right?” Newt jumped to his feet and ran over to Alby. From inside the Box, Stephen heard them talking and then all the Gladers gathered around the Box once more. Stephen clambered out, closed the metal doors, and the Gladers waited. Sure enough, within minutes, the Box had retreated to where it had come from.

Winston had retrieved a long rope from their stock of supplies and Alby was tying it around Stephen’s waist. Tightening the knot once more, Newt and Gally opened the doors, and Stephen placed his foot over the edge. Frypan patted him on the back, saying, “Don’t klunk your pants Steph.” Then, Alby, Gally, Winston and Frypan grabbed the back of the rope. They knew they did not need four people to hold the rope, but it was just for safety measures.

They lowered Stephen down and they heard him whimper. Every sound he made would echo up, and everyone could hear him as he whispered and consoled himself. All of a sudden, Stephen saw a light. He shouted, “Hey guys! I think I see a light! The shaft really isn’t that long-”

A shriek, a sharp high pitched sound, and Alby felt the weight on the rope lessen considerably. Immediately, he ordered the other Gladers to help pull Stephen up. Or what was left of him. As they saw his head reach the top of the shaft, they realised what had happened. Blood soaked the grass immediately, and some of them turned away from the sight of the mangled mess of bone. Stephen had been chopped in half.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: To those who have been saying that the events from He Was First and Subject A5: Newt The Glue are similar, well they're written by 2 different people. Also, the same events DID happen and it is The Maze Runner reality so I guess you can't really expect them to be very different? Also, our writing styles are quite different I guess so you guys can get a fuller picture of what we imagined? Yup.

Winston inched closer to the edge, and looked down. There were two shiny metal blades sticking out from the side of the shaft. They were stained with blood, Stephen's blood. He tried to listen out for an echo, the sound of the rest of Stephen's body hitting the bottom of the shaft, but there was nothing. It was as if the shaft really was a bottomless abyss. He muttered, "Oh shuck."

Getting the makeshift stretcher from the shack, Clint helped the others to place Stephen on it, so they could bring him to the forest to be buried. Almost ceremoniously, the Gladers escorted the med-jacks and Stephen to the forest. Gally ran forward to dig a hole, and they lowered him in. As they lowered Stephen in, Clint commented, "Four months, two deaths. Two heads, but not two bodies. Might as well call this place the Dead...heads. Deadheads."

They planted a big stone by the foot of Stephen's grave, and Alby got to work carving his name in. Using the same hammer and piece of wood, Alby carved his name in. However, he had underestimated the length of his name, and had to squish the 'n' at the end of the stone. Stepping back, they took a moment of silence, and Alby made his speech.

"Like George, Stephen was also our latest Greenie. He had a great idea, he could have had more. However, he sacrificed himself, so we could eliminate one method of escaping. Like George, his death was definitely not in vain. Stephen's death has only brought us one step closer to finding a way out, and for that we thank him."

As Newt bowed his head, he thought to himself. When I first came here, I thought things would be great. With Alby and Gally in charge, everything was going smoothly. I was made a Runner with Minho, that was fantastic. Then everything fell apart. All because of that stupid argument. Making me second-in-command. Before that, all I wanted to do was get out. I hated this place, being confined by all these walls. Now, I hate it even more. Whoever these people are, they are the cause of two deaths, and all our unhappiness. My friends, they don't know what I'm going through, they think everything is going to be alright, and for some reason, I have to think that too. All because I'm supposed to be a leader. But after today, I'm done. I can't take it anymore, I need to get out of here.

* * *

It had been two months since Stephen had been buried. Since then, two more Greenies had arrived, Dave and Jack. Lucky for Gally, he had gotten one more Builder, Dave, and Winston had recruited Jack. Life had returned to normal rather quickly after the incidents. All of the Gladers had happily returned to the jobs. For Newt, he felt like no one cared about him anymore, that he was just there to tell people what to do, and everything was spiraling downwards.

* * *

One vine, then the next. It was like rock climbing, although he didn't know how he knew what rock climbing was. Slowly, one by one, he clambered up the walls that loomed over them, all day, all night, 24 hours a day, every day. That was why he had to do this, why he had to climb, why he had to jump. From below, many of his friends attempted to get him to descend. But how could he even call them friends? They were willing to stay in this, this  _place_  until the day they died, or were killed, or whatever was going to happen to them.

"Newt! Get your shank ass down here right now! Come on, let's go back, the doors are gonna close soon! You're making a big mistake, you klunk head! " Minho screamed. Newt laughed to himself, he was being called a klunk head, when all the people down there were the real klunk heads. He yelled in reply, "Trust me, this is the only way to escape from this nightmare! You think this is our real home? It isn't! I may have only been here half the time you guys have, but at least I've got the brains to know it. And I'm bloody sure when I jump, I'm going to get back home." Just as he was about to jump, he noticed Alby, his leader and first friend, had gathered a few other Gladers and they had brought a net. Were they trying to save him?

"Alby, what are you doing? Why won't you let me do this? One less Glader to take care of, the easier it is for you, for me, for everyone. Get back to the Glade, I'll see you on the other side." With that, Newt took a leap of faith and jumped. The last thing he heard before he blanked out were shouts of his name.  _At least I'll know my name when I really wake up_ , he thought.

* * *

"Guys, I think he's waking up! Newt, Newt!"

He blinked several times. Where am I? Am I dead yet? Just before he was about to celebrate his victorious escape, he heard a voice which pulled him right back into reality. Alby.

"Glad you're not dead, man." Newt finally gathered the courage to face his fellow Gladers again. He sat up slowly, feeling the ache in his side. What he felt most wasn't his side, it was his ankle. It was bandaged up and held down on the bed, apparently Clint and Jeff didn't want him moving around. Not that he wanted to. He was furious that Alby didn't let him complete what he felt he needed to do. He glared at him, "Why didn't you let me die? It would have been easier-" He got cut off by Minho who practically screamed in his face, "You klunk head! Why would you do that to me?" Alby laughed it off and ushered everyone out of the room.

"Alby, why did you do it? Why did you save me? Why-" Newt started. Alby smiled and said, "After you jumped, you landed right on the net. We brought you back in right before the doors slammed shut. You may not be on the 'other side' you wanted to be on, but you're on the right side of those doors right now, and that's all that ever matters and all that will ever matter. We had to save you. You're my second-in-command, Newt. The Gladers need you. The Runners need you. I need you... Although, you probably won't be doing any running soon, broke your ankle pretty bad, and you leg was pretty much shattered, med-jacks don't know how long it will take to heal, they say it may never, but I say otherwise. Come on, get some rest."

Newt lay back down on the bed and slept. As he fell asleep, he remembered how concerned Minho and Alby had been, and realised that they really did care about him. Because of that, it was the best sleep he had had in a long time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: What do you think? I would be really grateful if you leave a comment/suggestion/general review down below! Thanks! :)


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ay guys so this is gonna be a relatively short chapter, but don't worry. The next 2 are gonna be awesome :)

Three years. Thirty-six months. A thousand and ninety-five days. Had it really been that long? As Alby thought back to everything that had happened to them, he remembered how it had started. It had started with Gally, then Minho, then slowly they increased in numbers. At first, it was just him and the Keepers. Then Newt came. Newt. After his  _attempt_ , which had fortunately, failed, his ankle had never healed. Sure, he could walk now, but not without a limp. Because of that, he could no longer be a Runner, and retired to merely staying in the Glade with Alby and helping out whenever help was needed.

He wandered around the Glade. As he looked at all the Gladers, it finally hit him how many of them there really were. After Stephen, it had been Nick, Stan, Tim, Jackson, Billy, Frankie, Adam and… He had lost track of them, there were just too many. Last time he checked, there were about 35 Gladers, but he could not tell. Starting from the Homestead, he walked across the Glade to the Gardens. Zart waved at Alby as he walked past. Zart. He was rather mysterious, never speaking, even after so long. He had attempted to initiate in conversations with several Gladers once, but most were unsuccessful. Now, he stuck to giving out orders, and only orders. Alby observed each row of crops that were growing. Those with tendrils were curled around the wooden sticks, reaching for the skies. The other crops were flourishing, producing many fruits for the Gladers.

Next, Alby walked past the Bloodhouse. Peeking through the glass windows, he caught sight of Winston barking at the other Slicers. Winston noticed Alby walking past, waved briefly, then continued ordering them around. Ever since Gally had recruited more Builders, the quality and quantity of infrastructure in the Glade had increased exponentially. That included building a proper Bloodhouse for Winston, with a roof over the animal's heads, proper wooden floor boards, and glass windows. Before there were so many people, there would be days when the Gladers would have to go without meat. Of course, after some time, the weekly supplies ran out all too quickly, which meant the Slicers had to work extra hard.

As Alby approached the Deadheads, he looked out the menacing stone door. The Runners had left earlier, as they always did. Minho too had recruited several more Runners, and had made sure every one of them knew their way around the Maze before going solo. Like Alby, he reminded himself every morning of George. He did not want anyone to be caught outside the Maze.

Reaching the gloomy forest, he decided to take a stroll through it, instead of merely skirting the edges. He wandered into the deepest part of the forest, and caught sight of two stones. He walked over to take a closer look and remembered. George and Stephen. The first two, and hopefully last, deaths in the Glade. Every time he was about to lose hope, was about to question why he was here, he looked at their graves, and told himself that he would make sure they did not die in vain.

As Alby was making his way back to the Homestead, he saw Frypan and his fellow cooks. They were busy planning out the Gladers' lunch, and Alby could tell Frypan enjoyed every minute of it. The boy just had a connection with food. His name was an entirely different matter. 'Frypan' had just stuck, and after that he never mentioned remembering his real name. Alby waved to Frypan and went on his way.

He neared the Homestead, and saw Newt, Clint, Jeff, Gally and the other Builders resting behind. Gally and his team were taking a break from building. Alby had asked them to make a watch tower, not only so he could see the entire Glade, but to show new Greenies how well the place was running, and how big the walls were, to ensure they never went out. Clint and Jeff were still the only med-jacks, not that they needed more, but because they clicked so well that any more people would just feel weird.

The metal grinding sound echoed throughout the Glade and everyone immediately knew what it meant. Alby gestured for Newt and Gally to come over and within seconds, all the Gladers had encircled the Box. As usual, Alby and Newt opened the doors, and Gally jumped in. This Greenie looked at most fourteen years old, making him the youngest Glader ever. He was short and pudgy, with long brown hair that looked like it had not been cut in ages. Directly below where he was standing, seemed to be a staining of brown. Someone shouted, "The little shank klunked his pants!" Everyone roared with laughter, this Greenie was sure to liven up the place.

A few days later, and the Gladers were tired of the Greenie. He was livening the Glade up alright, but in the wrong way. His first night, he had played a prank on almost every Glader. Now, he was simply a nuisance, never taking anything seriously. That also meant he had no friends, none of the Gladers wanted to be friends with the youngest and most playful Glader. You could tell where he was at any one point of time, because it would be announced with a simple 'Oh shuck, it's the Greenie'. That was when he remembered his name. Chuck.

 


	19. Chapter 19

"Quick! Jeff! Get the serum! It's in the shack! Hurry!" Alby shouted. They were struggling to hold him down, but he was getting out. Just a bit more….. How had this even happened?

It was three weeks since Chuck had arrived, just another normal day. The Runners had left on schedule, everyone had started work on time. As Minho ran through, he clearly saw Ben turn left, over to section 1, where he was assigned. The next thing he knew, an ear piercing scream rang across the entire Maze. In an instant, Minho turned around and ran towards the source of the sound. Ben was lying on the ground, writhing in pain. His shirt was ripped and on his back was a red mark. Surrounding the red mark were varicose veins. Minho took a step back, he had seen this before. It was a long time ago, but he remembered what it was. He had seen it on George. It was the sting of a Griever.

Still struggling, Ben was dragged by Minho all the way back to the main corridor of the Maze. Luckily, Ben had not gotten far. As Minho was pulling him, he thought,  _how could Ben have been stung, don't the Grievers only come out at night or something? We've never seen em during the day._  When they were nearing the Glade, Minho screamed, "Alby! Ben's been stung!"

However, the closer they got to the Glade, the more Ben was struggling. It was as if he were having a fit, his muscles were spasming and his hands and legs were all over the place. A few of the Gladers helped to restrain him while Jeff went to get the serum. Alby grabbed the serum, and plunged it into Ben's skin. Almost immediately, he stopped moving. Then, they brought him to the small infirmary for him to rest. Unfortunately, they still did not know why and how it had happened.

"What the bloody heck happened to him Minho?" Newt asked.

Minho stammered in reply, "I... I don't know. I was running, then I heard him scream. When I got there, he was, well you saw him. I didn't see no shuck Grievers there, I don't know how it happened."

"We'll just have to wait for him to wake up, then he'll tell us," Alby interjected.

Leaving Clint and Jeff to take care of Ben, the three of them walked out. However, they did not get far until Gally grabbed Minho and shoved him to the side.

"This is all your fault! Ben getting stung, it made me think about it, about George. How did they get stung? Oh right, because it was your shucking idea to go all  _Dora the Explorer_  and go out into the Maze in the first place!" He screamed.

"How is this my fault? Ben joined us voluntarily, but George, George's death wasn't my shucking fault! He shucking ran out here because you were arguing with me that day! Over some stupid matter! That's why we have the rules!" Minho retorted. By then, several Gladers had heard them arguing and had gathered around.

"Oh, so now you're playing the goodie goodie rule follower? Well then,  _please_  enlighten me as to which rule you're talking about?"

"Never go out into the Maze! Does your shucking brain get it? Only Runners go out there! You, and all the rest of the Gladers, stay here!"

"Don't go out into the Maze? You mean like this?" Holding his hands in the air, Gally backed away, then broke into a sprint. He ran for the nearest door and went outside. Newt and Alby ran forward, shouting, "Gally! Get back! It's not safe!"

Gally screamed, "I'm sick of it! You treating all the Runners like they're better than us, like it's alright for them go out there because they're so much bet-"

His screams were cut off and the Gladers could no longer see him. All they saw was a big figure tackling him to the ground, then running off. In the mess, they caught sight of metal claws, and a gooey body. Minho ran forward, cautiously checking the surroundings for any signs of the Griever. Surprisingly, there were none.

"Oh great Gally, you're a shuck genius," Minho remarked. Alby ordered Clint to get the other serum, and they did the same thing they had done to Ben, to Gally.

After everything was over, Alby, Newt and Minho sat down to discuss what had just happened. Alby started, "As well know, this has never happened before. Getting stung in broad daylight. Everything has been fine for three years now. No incidents since George. What's going on?"

"Like I would have any bloody ideas."

"Same here, don't have any shucking theories or whatever."

"Well, it's happened twice so far. We can't make any assumptions as to what's going on. You know what? One's an incident, two's coincidence, but three's a pattern. It could be just a freak accident. We'll see what happens. But Minho, I want all your Runners in pairs from now on, at least for the next two months."

"You got it Alby," Minho replied.

* * *

Distant. That was the only way to describe him. Did not eat much, barely spoke. It was as if he had changed entirely. Because of that, they named it the Changing, the process you go through after getting stung. That was Gally. The day after he had been stung, all he did was lie on the bed, staring at the ceiling. All he said was, "I remember." He repeated this several times a minute, which became quite tiresome to listen to after a while. When Newt asked him what he remembered, he stayed quiet.

A few days later, and both Gally and Ben were comfortable walking around, but they were kept under constant maintenance. The first thing Gally had said to Alby was, "I'm going to do it." When Alby tried to clarify what he was talking about, Gally replied, "The next Greenie. I'm still jumping in to get him out. You can't stop me." Alby nodded, but was weirded out by Gally's awkward behaviour.

Just then, they heard the metal grinding. Newt and Alby opened the metal doors. This Greenie was sprawled on the floor of the Box, using his hand to shield his eyes from the sun and his brown hair was messy and ruffled. Gally jumped in and welcomed, "Day One Greenie, rise and shine."


	20. Chapter 20

WICKED Memorandum, Date 232.1.19, Time 9:32

TO: Ava Paige, Chancellor

FROM: Director

RE: MAZE TRIALS, Group A

Greetings, Chancellor Paige. I am writing to you to give you an update on how the trials are progressing.

By any reckoning, I think that we can all agree on the fact that the Maze Trials are going as planned. The boys are doing well, as expected. We have set our creatures on two of the boys, in order for them to remember and then set A2 apart from the others. Honestly, I'm amazed that so many of them are still alive and have not turned on one another.

I know we have caused them much pain from the two deaths three years ago. However, they were necessary in order to remind the boys what they had to do. Currently, I am still unsure of who should be the leader, therefore only their subject numbers have been decided, but not their titles.

Gradually, we will ensure the boys realise that something is happening to their world. This will be the first trigger that they will need to escape. We are running out of time. Everyday, one of our own becomes infected, and it is only a matter of time before we can no longer carry this out.

The mission of WICKED will eventually have to be installed into one of their minds. Perhaps Subject A1 will do. Our mission: to serve and preserve humanity, no matter the cost. We are in a way, good.

Earlier this morning, Subject A2 was successfully sent up into the Maze. Tomorrow, Subject A1 will be sent up, and Stage 1, The Maze Trials, will be almost complete.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: What do you think? I would be really grateful if you leave a comment/suggestion/general review below! ((it is the last chapter after all)) Thanks! :)

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: What do you think? I would be really grateful if you leave a kudos and/or comment/suggestion/general review below! Thanks so much :)


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